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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 


Mrs.  Charlotte  Steiner 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 


Wsm  Charlotte  Steiner 


INDUSTRIAL    DESPOTISM,    SHREWDLY    CALLED    FREEDOM. 
( Tllustrntiiio-    tlic   Wage-Earner's    "Freedom   of   Contract.") 


WAR-WHAT  FOR? 


BY 

GEORGE   R.   KIRKPATRICK 


"The  cannon's  prey  has  begun  to  think,  and,  thinking  twice,  loses 
its  admiration  for  being  made  a  tarp-et." — Tictor  Hugo. 

"A  nod  from  a  lord  is  a  breakfast — for  a  fool." — Proverb. 

"The  poor  souls  for  whom  this  hungry  war  opens  its  vast 
jaws." — William  Shakespeare. 


First  Edition,  August,   1910. 

Second  Edition,  October,  1910. 

Third   Edition,   Fourteenth  Thousand,   December,   1910. 


PUBLISHED    BY   THE    AUTHOR, 

WEST  LA  FAYETTE,  OHIO 


COPYHICHTED.   1910. 
BY 

GEORGE  R.  KIRKPATRICK. 

All   rights   reserved, 
Including  that  of  translation  into  foreign  languages 


ANNOUNCEMENT  ON  PAGE  350. 


WAR  —  WHAT     FOR? 

SINGLE    COPY.    $1.20 

Liberal  discounts  in  clubs  of  3,  10  and  25  or  more. 
Chapter  Two,  with  two  pictures  and  other  selections,  printed  sepa- 
rately in  16-page  pamphlet  form. 

By  the  same  author: 

THINK — OR    SURRENDER 

About  100  pages  of  elementary  economics,  politics  and  organiza- 
tion— for  the  propaganda  of  Socialism.     (Nearly  ready.) 


'-^  r\ 


THIS  book  is  dedicated  to  the  victims  of  the  civil  war 
in  industry ;  that  is,  to  my  brothers  and  sisters  of 
the  working  class,  the  class  who  furnish  the  blood  and 
tears  and  cripples  and  corpses  in  all  wars — yet  win  no 
victories  for  their  own  class. 


8S7897 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Preface  5 

Ready    9 

An  Insult  from  the  Commander-in-Chief 10 

Chapter  One:  A  Confidential  Word  with  the  Man  of  the  Work- 
ing Class  11 

Chapter  Two:   What  Is  War? 21 

Chapter  Three:  The    Situation — Also    the   Explanation 29 

Chapter  Four:  The  Cost  of  War— (1)  In  Blood,   (2)  In  Cash..  47 

Chapter  Five:  Hell  77 

Chapter  Six:  Tricked  to  the  Trenches — Then  Snubbed 107 

Chapter  Seven :   For  Father  and  the  Boys 159 

Chapter  Eight:   For  Mother  and  the  Boys — and  Girls 207 

Chapter  Nine:  The  Cross,  the  Cannon,  and  the  Cash  Register..  244 

Chapter  Ten:  Now  What  Shall  We  Do  About  It? 273 

Chapter  Eleven:  A  Short  Lesson  in  the  History  of  the  Working 

Class 317 

Chapter  Twelve :  Suggestions — and  What  to  Read 338 

Illustrations : 

Industrial  Despotism,  Craftily  Called  Freedom ....  Frontispiece 

Leading  Citizens— "We  Want  Wars" 31 

Leading  Citizens — "We  Declare  Wars" 33 

Citizens  Who  Are  Led— "We  Fight  the  Wars" 35 

Hired  Hands   Facing  p.  46 

Worn-Out  Boxing  Gloves  of  the  Ruling  Class 51 

The  History  of  Ignorance  and  Meekness 53 

The  War  Is  the  Class  War 169 

The  Beneficiaries  of  Hell,  Flirting  with  Heaven ..  Facing  p.  206 

The  Noble  R61e  of  Cossacks  and  Militiamen Facing  p.  207 

Preparing  Boy-Scout  Hired  Hands Facing  p.  220 

Four  Victims  of  Cheap  Patriotism 241 

In  My  Name!     After  Nineteen  Hundred  Years! 245 


PREFACE. 


Justice  soothes. 

Justice  heals  the  wounds  and  sores  in  the  social  body. 

Justice  strikes  down  all  robbery — illegal  and  legal. 

Justice  calms. 

Injustice  stings. 

Injustice  burns,  irritates — kills  sociability  and  creates  con- 
flict. 

Injustice  prevents  brotherhood. 

Injustice  is  unsocial — anti-social — and  is  thus  a  social  sore. 

Injustice,  organized  injustice,  is  the  soul  of  all  cZoss-labor 
forms  of  society. 

The  purpose  of  all  class-labor  forms  of  society  is  robbery. 

The  robbed  resist — sometimes. 

The  robbers  are  ready  for  resistance — always. 

In  all  class-labor  forms  of  society  the  ruling  class  always 
have: 

First,  an  armed  guard — ready  : 

ready  to  serve  as  tusk  and  fist  of  the  robber  ruling  class, 
ready  to  suppress  protesting  chattel-slaves, 
ready  to  suppress  protesting  serfs, 
ready  to  suppress  protesting  wage-earners, 
ready  to  defend  the  class-labor  system, 
ready  to  extend  the  class-labor  system, 
ready  to  defy  and  defeat  and  hold  down  and  kick  the 
robbed  working  class. 

Second,  an  unarmed  guard — composed  of  prideless  pur- 
chasable human  things,  social  chameleons,  moral  eunuchs, 
political  flunkies — intellectual  prostitutes — ready  : 

ready  to  make  laws  in  the  interest  of  the  ruling  class, 


6  PREFACE. 

ready  to  interpret  laws  in  the  interest  of  the  ruling 
class, 

ready  to  execute  laws  in  the  interest  of  the  ruling  class, 

ready  to  cunningly  cajole  and  beguile  the  toil-cursed 
working  class, 

ready  to  cunningly  teach  meekness,  humility  and  con- 
tentment— to  the  working  class, 

ready  to  cunningly  teach  servility  and  obedience — to 
the  working  class, 

ready  with  grand  words  to  cunningly  dupe  and  chloro- 
form— the  working  class, 

ready  to  bellow  about  "Law  and  Order"  when  the  un- 
employed call  loudly  for  work  or  bread  and  when  hungry 
strikers  open  their  lips  in  self-defense, 

ready  "for  Jesus'  sake"  (and  a  salary)  to  glorify  war 
and  scream  to  the  "God  of  Battles"  (also  the  "God  of 
Peace")  for  victory;  ready  to  baptize  wholesale  murder 
and  flatter  the  blood-stained  conquerors;  ready  to  whine 
and  mumble  over  the  shell-torn  corpses  of  the  victims  and 
hypocritically  sniffle  and  mouth  consolatory  congratula- 
tions to  the  war-cursed  widows  and  orphans — ready  thus 
to  mock  their  own  ruined  victims — for  a  price;  ready  to 
preach — to  the  workers — that  they  must  fight  like  hell 
to  "get  a  home  in  heaven." 

Many  of  my  brothers — my  betrayed  younger  brothers — are 
soldiers:  they  have  been  seduced  to  serve  as  Armed  Guard. 
They  have  been  deceived.  And  they  are  abused.  Many  of 
them  are  even  driven  insane.  Insanity  ranks  third  in  the  long 
list  of  disablements  for  which  our  betrayed  brothers  are  dis- 
missed from  the  service.  (Eeport  of  the  Department  of 
War,  1908,  p.  21.)  A  whole  car-load  of  insane  soldiers  were 
shipped  through  Pittsburgh — home  from  the  Philippines — 
December  11,  1909. 

These  men  are  indeed  betrayed  and  abused — and  ashamed. 
They  even  destroy  themselves  to  hide  their  shame  and  escape 
abuse.    Twenty-six  times  as  many  enlisted  men  committed 


I 


PREFACE.  7 

suicide  in  1908  as  in  1907;  and  thirty-nine  times  as  many 
of  them  committed  suicide  in  1909  as  in  1907.* 

More  and  more  the  boys  in  the  Army  are  disgusted  with  the 
whole  vile  business,  but  as  the  boys  become  increasingly  sick 
of  the  service  and  would  like  to  run  away,  the  War  Depart- 
ment more  and  more  prepares  to  hold  them  like  rats  in  a  trap 
— just  as  the  Secretary  of  War  boasted  in  his  Keport  for  1908 
(p.  19)  that  he  now  finally  had  "an  elaborate  system  .  .  . 
almost  perfected  well  calculated  to  secure  swift  and  certain 
apprehension  and  punishment  of  deserters,  and  will  .  .  . 
have  a  marked  effect  in  reducing  the  crime  to  a  minimum." 
Thus  the  boys  are  trapped  and  stung, — and  some  of  them  kill 
themselves. 

The  working  class  men  inside  and  outside  the  Army  are 
confused. 

They  do  not  understand. 

But  they  will  understand. 

And  when  they  do  understand^  their  class  loyalty  and 
class  pride  will  astonish  the  world.  They  will  stand  erect 
in  their  vast  class  strength  and  defend — themselves.  They 
will  cease  to  coax  and  tease;  they  will  make  demands — 
unitedly.  They  will  desert  the  armory ;  they  will  spike  every 
cannon  on  earth;  they  will  scorn  the  commander;  they  will 
never  club  or  bayonet  another  striker;  and  in  the  legislatures 
of  the  world  they  will  shear  the  fatted  parasites  from  the 
political  and  industrial  body  of  society. 

But  these  things  they  will  not  do  and  can  not  do  till  th 
are  roused — roused  because  they  understands 

Therefore,  I  "rise  to  a  point  of  order":  The  most  11.- 
portant  thing  on  the  program  in  the  politics  of  the  world. 


*  Reports  of  the  Department  of  War  for  the  years  1907,  '08, 
'09,  pp..  17,  21,  and  18  respectively.  The  Reports  of  the  Secretaries 
of  War  include  no  losses  by  suicide,  from  1901  to  1906  inclusive... 
The  suicide  record  reported  by  the  Secretaries  of  War  for  1907, 
'08,  '09,  are:  1,  26,  39  respectively.  Fifty-eight  per  cent,  of  all 
desertions  in  1906  were  desertions  by  men  (boys)  in  their  first 
year  of  service;  over  half  of  these  in  first  half  year  of  their  service, 
^ee.  Index :  "Desertions." 


8  PREFACE. 

to-day  is  to  rouse  the  working  class  to  realize  itself,  to  be 
conscious  of  itself,  to  see  itself  and  also  see  distinctly  the 
age-long  conspiracy  of  the  ruling  class;  the  first  thing  is  to 
rouse  the  working  class  to  unite  socially  and  unite  industrially 
and  unite  politically  and  seize  all  the  powers  of  government 
in  all  the  world — for  self-defense ;  the  supreme  business  of  the 
hour  is  to  rouse  the  working  class  for  the  crowning  victory 
in  the  evolution  of  mankind — for  the  industrial  freedom  of 
the  working  class,  for  the  peace  and  the  calm  born  of  justice, 
for  the  beauty  and  the  glory  of  the  brotherhood  of  man. 

This  book  is  written  to  help  instruct  and  rouse  the  working 
class;  and  if  in  some  small  measure  this  unpretentious  book 
carries  light  to  the  brains  of  my  younger  brothers  on  the  big 
steel  battleships,  in  the  barren  gloomy  barracks,  and  to  my 
abused  and  cheated  brothers  (and  sisters)  in  the  mills  and 
mines  and  on  the  farms — and  thus  helps  stir  my  class  to  a 
consciousness  of  their  class  and  thus  helps  advance  the  demand 
for  justice  and  the  demand  for  a  reconstructed,  socialized 
society,  my  reward  will  seem  abundant. 

GEORGE  R.  KIRKPATRICK. 
July  4,  1910. 


The  pictures  in  this  book  add  much  to  its  interest  and 
usefulness.  Those  on  pages  31  and  33  were  made  by  Mr. 
Ryan  Walker,  of  New  York;  all  the  others  were  made  by 
Mr.  John  Sloan,  also  of  Xew  York.  The  author  is  genu- 
in^^ly  grateful  for  their  kind  cooperation. 


Ready. 

The  Eoman  slave-owners  of  two  thousand  years  ago  with 
their  armed  slave-drivers;  also  the  slave-owners  of  sixty 
years  ago  with  their  hireling  slave-drivers,  armed  with  black- 
snake  whips  and  pistols,  on  horseback  in  the  cotton  fields  of 
the  South — the  ancient  and  the  modern  chattel  slave-owners 
thus  were  ready — ready  to  murder  the  slave  working  class. 

The  lords  of  serfdom  with  armed  hirelings  housed  near 
their  castles  were  also  ready — ready  to  murder  the  serf  work- 
ing class. 

Recently,  in  1907,  when  the  number  of  the  unemployed 
wage-earners  in  the  United  States  numbered  over  three 
millions,  it  was  promptly  planned  by  the  War  Department 
serving  the  Caesars  of  industry  that  one  machine-gun  com- 
pany with  six  rapid-fire  guns  of  the  Maxim  or  some  similar 
type  should  be  added  to  each  of  the  thirty  regiments  of  in- 
fantry and  fifteen  regiments  of  cavalry  now  constituting  the 
Army — a  total  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  of  the  most 
terrible  murdering  machines  ever  invented.  With  these  guns, 
each  firing  eight  hundred  shots  per  minute,  eight  million  six 
hundred  and  forty  thousand  cold  steel  nuggets  of  "law-and- 
order"  and  "unparalleled  prosperity"  could  be  handed  out  to 
the  unemployed  in  just  forty  minutes, — to  lovingly  show  the 
working  class  how,  under  the  wage-system — the  present  class- 
labor  system, — "the  interests  of  the  capitalist  class  and  the 
interests  of  the  working  class  are  practically  the  same." 

Thus  the  capitalists  of  our  day  are  also  ready — ready  to 
have  wage-paid  soldiers,  militiamen  and  policemen  murder 
the  wage-earninig  working  class. 

"Although  the  conventions  of  popular  government  are  preserved, 
capital  is  at  least  as  absolute  as  under  the  Caesars.  The  aristocracy 
which  wields  this  autocratic  power  is  beyond  attack,  for  it  is  de- 
fended by  a  wage-earning  police,  by  the  side  of  which  tlie  [Roman] 
legions  were  a  toy — a  police  so  formidable  that,  for  the  first  time  in 
history,  revolt  is  hopeless  and  is  not  attempted.  The  only  question 
which  preoccupies  the  ruling  class  is  whether  it  is  cheaper  to  coerce 
or  bribe." — Brooks  Adams:  The  Law  of  Civilization  and  Decay, 
p.  292. 


An  Insult  from  the  Comniander=in=ChJef: 

*'The  fact  can  not  be  disregarded  nor  explained  away  that 
for  some  reason  or  other  the  life  of  the  soldier  as  at  present 
constituted  is  not  one  to  attract  the  best  and  most  desirable 
class  of  enlisted  men.  .  .  . 

"The  [militar}']  service  should  be  made  so  attractive  that 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  obtain  intelligent  and  desirable  men 
and  to  hold  them."— William  H.  Taft,  Secretary  of  War 
(now  President  and  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Army  and 
Navy)  :  Annual  Keport  of  Secretary  of  War,  1907,  page  14. 
Mr.  Taft  repeated  this  insult  in  a  public  speech,  (See  New 
York  Times,  April  26,  1908.) 

In  the  Eeport  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1907,  page  79,  is 
the  following  from  the  General  Staff: 

"The  bulk  of  recruits  come  and  must  always  come  from 
the  agricultural,  artisan,  and  laboring  classes." 

How  long  will  strong  men  of  the  working  class  accept  a 
kick  as  a  compliment — from  so-called  "great"  men? 


CHAPTER  ONE. 

A  Confidential  Word  With  the   Man  of  the  Working 

Class. 

Brother  ! 

Whoever  you  are,  wherever  vou  are  on  all  the  earth,  I 
greet  you. 

You  are  a  member  of  the  working  class. 

I  am  a  member  of  the  working  class. 

We  are  brothers. 

Class  brothers. 

Let  us  repeat  that: — Class  Brothers. 

Let  us  write  that  on  our  hearts  and  stamp  it  on  our 
brains : — Class  Brothers. 

I  extend  to  you  my  right  hand. 

I  make  you  a  pledge. 

Here  is  my  pledge  to  you : — 

I  refuse  to  kill  your  father.  I  refuse  to  slay  your 
mother's  son.  I  refuse  to  plunge  a  bayonet  into  the  breast 
of  your  sister's  brother.  I  refuse  to  slaughter  your  sweet- 
heart's lover.  I  refuse  to  murder  your  wife's  husband.  I 
refuse  to  butcher  your  little  child's  father.  I  refuse  to  wet 
the  earth  with  blood  and  blind  kind  eyes  with  tears.  I  refuse 
to  assassinate  you  and  then  hide  my  stained  fists  in  the  folds 
of  any  flag. 

I  refuse  to  be  flattered  into  hell's  nightmare  by  a  class  of 
well-fed  snobs,  crooks  and  cowards  who  despise  our  class 
socially,  rob  our  class  economically  and  betray  our  class 
politically. 

Will  you  thus  pledge  me  and  pledge  all  the  members  of 
our  working  class  ? 

Sit  down  a  moment,  and  let  us  talk  over  this  matter  of 
war.  We  working  people  have  been  tricked — tricked  into  a 
sort  of  huge  steel-trap  called  war. 


12  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Eeally,  the  smooth  "leading  citizens"  tried  their  best  to 
flim-flam  me,  too.  They  cunningly  urged  me  to  join  the 
militia  and  the  army  and  be  ready  to  go  to  war.  Their  voices 
were  soft,  their  smiles  were  bland,  they  made  war  look  bright, 
very  bright.  But  I  concluded  not  to  train  for  war  or  go  to 
war — at  least  not  until  the  brightness  of  war  became  bright 
enough  to  attract  those  cunning  people  to  war  who  tried  to 
make  war  look  bright  to  me.  I  have  waited  a  long  time.  I 
am  still  waiting.  Thus  I  have  had  plenty  of  opportunity  to 
think  it  all  over.  And  the  more  I  think  about  war  the  more 
clearly  I  see  that  a  bayonet  is  a  stinger,  made  by  the  working 
class,  sharpened  by  the  working  class,  nicely  polished  by  the 
working  class,  and  then  "patriotically"  thrust  into  the  work- 
ing class  by  the  working  class — for  the  capitalist  class. 

The  busy  human  bees  sting  themselves. 

If  I  should  enlist  for  service  in  the  Department  of 
Murder  I  should  feel  thoroughly  embarrassed  and  ashamed 
of  myself.  It  is  all  clear  to  me  now.  This  is  the  way  of  it, 
brother : — 

In  going  to  war  I  must  work  like  a  horse  and  be  as  poor 
as  a  mouse,  must  be  as  humble  as  a  toad,  as  meek  as  a  sheep 
and  obey  like  a  dog;  I  must  fight  like  a  tiger,  be  as  cruel  as 
a  shark,  bear  burdens  like  a  mule  and  eat  stale  food  like  a 
half-starved  wolf;  for  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars  a  month  I 
must  turn  against  my  own  working  class  and  thus  make  an 
ass  and  a  cat's-paw  of  myself;  and  after  the  war  I  should 
be  socially  despised  and  snubbed  as  a  sucker  and  a  cur  by 
the  same  distinguished  "leading  citizens"  who  wheedled  me  to 
war  and  afterward  gave  me  the  horse-lausrh ; — and  thus  I 
should  feel  like  a  monkey  and  look  like  a  plucked  goose  in 
January. 

Indeed  I  am  glad  to  see  it  all  clearly. 

I  want  you  to  see  it  clearly. 

The  '■Reading  citizens"  shall  never  have  opportunit}'  to 
laugh  at  me  for  doing  drill  "stunts"  they  would  not  do  them- 
selves and  for  going  to  a  war  they  could  not  be  induced  to 
go  to  themselves.     Moreover,  no  member  of  the  working  class 


A   CONFIDENTIAL  WORD.  13 

can  ever  say  that  I  voluntarily  took  up  arms  against  my  own 
class. 

If,  however,  years  ago,  I  had  joined  the  militia  or  the 
army  I  should  have  been  entirely  innocent  of  doing  voluntary 
wrong  against  my  class,  because  I  did  not  understand — then. 
But  it  is  different  now.  All  is  changed  now — because  I  do 
understand  now.  And  I  want  you  to  understand  this  matter. 
Indeed  we  members  of  the  working  class  should  help  one 
another  understand.  And  this  book  is  for  that  purpose. 
You  will  permit  me  to  explain  very  frankly — won't  you  ? 

You  will  notice  that  this  is  a  small  book* — very  much 
smaller  than  the  vast  subject  of  wholesale  murder  called  war. 
But  kindly  remember  that  this  book  of  suggestions — chiefly 
suggestions — is  written  for  those,  the  working  class,  whose 
lives  are  too  weary  and  whose  eyes  are  frequently  too 
full  of  dust  and  sweat  and  tears  for  them  to  read  large  and 
"learned"  works  on  war.  This  book  is  indeed  written  in 
behalf  of  the  working  class — and  the  working  class  only.  The 
lives  and  loves  of  the  working  class,  the  hopes  and  the  happi- 
ness of  the  working  class,  the  blood  and  tears  of  the  working 
class  are  too  sacred  to  be  viciously  wasted  as  they  have  been 
wasted  and  are  wasted  by  the  crafty  kings,  tsars,  presidents, 
emperors,  and  the  industrial  tyrants  of  the  earth. 

This  book  contains  no  flattery. 

We  are  flattered  too  much — by  cunning  people. 

Flattery  confuses  most  people.  Flattery  blinds  us,  and 
that  is  why  business  men  and  their  unarmed  guardsmen  flatter 
the  working  people. 

A  multitude  of  intelligent  honey  bees  can  be  confused, 
hopelessly  confused,  at  swarming  time,  simply  by  beating  an 
empty  tin  pan  or  drum  near  them  and  calling  loudly  the  al- 
most patriotically  stupid  word,  "Boowah  !  Boowah !  Woowah ! 
Woowah !"    And.  indeed,  down  on  the  old  home  farm  in  Ohio 


*  The  present  wholly  unpretentious  book  has  a  distinct  purpose 
(announced  in  the  Preface  and  also  on  this  page),  and  has,  too,  it  is 
hoped,  an  effective  plan  and  method  for  the  realization  of  that  pur- 
pose. Readers  in  search  of  conventionally  elaborated  theses  on  war 
are  referred,  for  suggestions,  to  Chapter  Twelve,  Sections  8  and  9. 


14  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

we  often  "brainstormed"  our  swarming  bees  by  just  such  sim- 
ple means — in  order  to  hold  them  in  slavery  and  thus  have 
them  near  and  tame.  We  wished  to  rob  them  when  they 
worked — later  on. 

This  device  works  perfectly  in  human  society  also.  The 
capitalist  class  use  this  method  with  great  success  on  the 
human  honey  bees,  the  working  class. 

Millions  of  intelligent  working  men  can  be  confused — and 
more  easily  robbed  later  on — simply  by  flattering  them  care- 
fully and  then  beating  a  drum  near  them  and  cunningly  call- 
ing out  the  pleasingly  empty  words,  "The  Flag!  The  Flag! 
Patriotism  !  Patriotism  !  Brave  boys !" 

Bewildered  moths  rush  into  a  flame  of  fire  because  it  is 
bright.  Bewildered  working  people  rush  to  war  and  singe 
their  own  happiness,  snuff  out  their  own  lives — like  moths — 
because  war  is  painted  bright.  In  the  shining  candle  flame 
moths  virtually  commit  suicide.  In  the  glittering  "glory"  of 
war  multitudes  of  the  working  class  practically  commit  suicide. 
This  will  be  clearer  to  you  as  you  read  these  chapters. 

Brother,  let  me  help  you  tear  the  mask  off  this  legalized 
outrage  against  the  working  class,  this  huge  and  "glorious" 
crime  called  war.  At  this  horrible  "Death's  feast"  we  working 
people  spit  in  one  another's  faces,  we  scream  in  wild  rage  at 
one  another,  we  curse  and  kill  our  own  working  class  brothers, 
we  foolishly  wallow  in  our  own  blood  and  desolate  our  own 
homes — simply  because  we  are  craftily  ordered  to  do  so.  Thus 
we  are  both  savage  and  ridiculous.  Ridiculous  did  I  say? 
Yes,  ridiculous.  That  word  ridiculous  sounds  like  a  harsh 
word — doesn't  it?  But,  remember,  in  all  wars  the  working 
class  are  always  meanly  belittled,  wronged — outraged. 

We  are  the  plucked  geese  in  January — patriotically. 

When  we  working  people  hear  a  fife  and  drum  and  see 
some  handsomely  dressed,  well-fed  military  officers  and  see 
their  long  butcher-knives  called  swords — our  confused  hearts 
beat  fast,  our  blood  becomes  blindly  and  suicidally  hot  and 
eager.  .  .  .  Look  out,  brother!  Take  care!  Remember: 
Always  in  all  wars  everywhere  the  working  class  are  confused, 


A   CONFIDENTIAL  WORD.  15 

iDewildered — then  shrewd  people  make  tools,  mules,  fools,  and 
foot-stools  of  us ! 

"Follow  the  flag!"  sounds  good — ^but  strikes  blind  the 
working  class. 

"Follow  the  flag !"  sounds  brave  and  grand.    Very. 

"Follow  the  flag!"  is  wine  for  the  brain — of  the  working 
class. 

"Follow  the  flag!"  makes  millions  of  our  class  blind  and 
useable. 

"Follow  the  flag!"  stirs  a  savage  passion  cunningly  called 
"patriotism." 

"Follow  the  flag !"  never  confuses  a  man  wearing  a  silk  hat. 

"Follow  the  flag!"  is  bait  laid  for  fools,  "rot"  fed  to 
mules,  by  every  tyrant  king,  tsar  and  president  at  the  head  of 
governments  used  by  the  industrial  ruling  class.* 

Governments — to-day  under  capitalism — are  composed  of 
"leading  citizens." 

These  "leading-citizen"  governments  quarrel  over  business 
— markets  and  territory. 

Being  proud,  these  "leading-citizen"  governments  pom- 
pously decide  to  "protect  their  honor" — their  alleged  honor — 
"at  any  cost." 

Lacking  sufficient  brains,  they  can  not  settle  their  quarrel 
with  brains. 

Eeverting  to  savagery,  they  decide  that  "might  makes 
right." 

Being  brutal,  they  decide  to  "fight  it  out." 

Being  cowards,  they  decide  to  avoid  personal  danger — to 
themselves. 

Knowing  the  working  class  are  gullibly  useable,  these 
"leading-citizen"  governments  decide  to  use  the  workingmen 
as  fists. 

Being  crafty,  they  decide  to  seize  the  hrain  of  the  toiler — 
to  teach  the  working  class: 

To  follow  the  flag — automatically — that  is,  patriotically 


*  "An'  you'll  die  like  a  fool  of  a  soldier. 

Fool,  fool,  fool  of  a  soldier." — Rudyard  Kipling:  "The  Young 
British.  Soldier,"  in  Ballads. 


16  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

To  follow  the  flag — blindly — tho'  "leading  citizens"  do 
not  follow  the  flag  into  bloody  danger 

To  follow  the  flag — blindly — cheered  by  silk-hatted 
cowards 

To  follow  the  flag — ^blindly — nc  matter  where  it  goes,  no 
matter  how  unjust  the  war  may  he 

To  follow  the  flag — blindly — tho'  the  working  class  fight- 
ers are  to  be  given  no  voice  in  declaring  the  war 

To  follow  the  flag — "patriotically" — like  slaves  defending 
masters  who  buy  and  sell  them  as  chattels — "patriotically" — 
like  ancient  serfs  defending  the  very  landlords  who  robbed 
the  serfs,  insulted  their  wives  and  raped  their  daughters 

To  follow  the  flag — brainlessly — like  dumb  cattle  follow- 
ing a  "trick"  bull  to  the  bloody  shambles  of  the  slaughter 
house 

To  follow  the  flag,  brainlessly,  as  a  frog  will  swallow  a 
bait  of  red  calico  loaded  with  a  deadly  fish-hook 

To  follow  the  fiag,  automatically,  to  the  horrors  and  hell 
of  the  firing  line — automatically,  to  the  flaming  cannon's 
mouth  and  there  butcher  other  workingmen  and  be  butchered 
by  other  workingmen  who  are  also — automatically — following 
another  flag — like  fools  used  as  fists  for  cowards. 

And  the  leading  citizens  have  indeed  succeeded  in  doing 
what  they  decided  to  do.  They  have  had  us  taught  disas- 
trously. 

Patriotically  we  have  worn  the  yoke  throughout  the  cen- 
turies— centuries  sad  with  tears  and  red  with  blood  and  fire. 

Patriotically  for  thousands  of  years  we  have  stormed  the 
world  with  the  cannon's  roar — ^but  never  won  a  real  victory 
for  our  class. 

And  for  a  hundred  5'ears — when  we  could  vote — we  have 
stupidly  followed  the  political  crook  to  the  ballot-box,  and 
then  we  have  meekly  teased  for  laws,  whined  for  relief,  and 
humbly  coaxed  the  "reformer." 

Gullibly  we  swallow  the  traducer's  lies  that  paralyze  our 
brains,  bind  our  wrists,  and  lay  us  under  the  employer's  lash. 

Deafened  and  stunned  with  a  fool's  "hurrah,"  we  wade 


A   CONFIDENTIAL   WORD.  17 

in  our  own  blood  while  those  we  love  are  broken  in  the 
embrace  of  despair. 

And  when  on  strike  for  bread  and  for  the  betterment  of 
Ihe  women  and  the  little  children,  blindly  on  horseback  we 
ride  down  and  club  one  another,  blindly  we  bayonet  one  an- 
other at  the  factory,  blindly  we  crush  one  another  at  the  mines, 
blindly  with  Gatling  guns  we  sweep  the  streets  and  hills  with 
storms  of  lead  and  steel,  and  in  a  thousand  ways  blindly  our 
class  destroy  our  class  in  the  bitter  and  stupid  civil  war  in 
capitalist  industry — cheapty  we  lend  and  rent  ourselves  for 
our  own  ruin. 

Ah,  my  friend,  there  is  a  political  earthquake  coming 
Avhich  will  swallow  up  the  political  prostitutes  and  the  indus- 
trial parasites  and  Caesars  of  socif'ty — when  our  class  open 
wide  their  eyes  and  see  the  great  red  crime — not  onl)^  on  the 
battlefield,  but  around  the  factory  and  before  the  miner's 
cabin  door.  Not  blindly  but  proudly  and  defiantly  the  work- 
ers will  then — but  not  till  then — defend  themselves. 

This  book  is  not  a  parasite's  platitudes,  nor  a  hypocrite's 
pretenses  in  a  Fakir's  Parliament;  this  book  is  not  a  tearful 
lament  about  war  nor  a  long-winded  essay  on  militarism,  nor 
a  coward's  whine  for  peace. 

This  book  is  not  intended  to  be  harsh ;  it  is  frankly  in- 
tended to  be  a  short,  shrill  call :  "Danger !"  and  also  a  guide- 
board  for  the  producer's  road  to  power. 

Too  long,  too  madly  and  sadly,  too  gullibly  the  flim- 
flammed  working  class  have  broken  their  own  hearts  and  wet 
the  earth  with  their  own  blood  and  tears;  too  meekly  and 
weakly  the  toilers  sweat  themselves  into  stupidity  and  then — 
like  cheated  children — gullibly  hand  over  the  choicest  culture, 
clothing,  bread,  wine  and  shelter  to  the  robbers  and  rulers 
who  despise  them  and  betray  them. 

What  for  ? 

They  have  the  habit. 

0,  my  brothers  of  the  working  class,  no  matter  what  lan- 
guage you  speak,  no  matter  what  God  you  worship,  no  mat- 
ter how  bitterly  you  would  curse  those  who  would  teach  you 
and  rouse  you — wherever  you  are,  in  the  barracks  or  in  the 


18  WAR—^YHAT  FOR? 

mines,  in  the  armories  or  in  the  mills,  in  the  trenches  at  the 
front  or  in  the  furrows  on  the  farm — let  us  clasp  hands — 
as  a  class.  Let  ns  talk  over  this  matter.  And  in  talking  it 
over  among  ourselves  let  us  be  frank.  We  must  be  very  frank. 
And  let  us  be  friends.  Even  as  I  write  this,  mighty  fleets  of 
gun-laden  ships  of  steel  are  steaming  up  and  down  the  seas 
provoking,  insulting,  challenging  war;  and  in  several  parts 
of  the  world  thousands  of  our  working  class  brothers  are 
slaughtering  one  another  in  wars  they  did  not  declare,  and 
they  do  so  simply  because  they  do  not  understand  one  an- 
other; and  they  do  not  understand  one  another  because  they 

HAVE  NEVEE  TALKED  THIS  MATTER  OVER  AMOXG  THEMSELVES 

in  friendly  frankness — like  brothers,  without  flattery  and 
without  bitterness  toward  one  another. 

As  you  and  I  consider  this  matter  now  by  ourselves  and  for 
ourselves,  we  may  for  a  moment — just  for  a  moment — disagree 
somewhat;  but  if  we  do  disagree,  let  us  disagree  without 
bitterness  toward  one  another.  Let  us  remember  that  we  are 
class  brothers,  and  permit  nothing  to  injure  our  friendship  or 
class  loyalty.  Some  things  concerning  war  must  be  said 
plainly — even  bluntly — things  neither  flattering  nor  compli- 
mentary to  anybody.  Remember,  too,  that  a  flattering  friend 
is  a  dangerous  friend.     Therefore  I  refuse  to  flatter  you. 

Stamp  this  into  your  brain :  The  worJcing  class  must 
defend  the  worhing  class.  In  national  and  international  fel- 
lowship we  must  stand  together  as  a  class  in  class  loyalty. 

And  now,  first  thing,  let  us  get  an  idea  of  what  war  (one 
phase  of  the  great  class  struggle)  is — for  our  class.  But 
before  reading  the  next  chapter  on  "WTiat  Is  War?"  examine 
the  photograph  of  hell  here  following: 

'TTiev  sav  there  are  a  grreat  manv  mad  men  in  our  armv  as  well 
as  in  the  enemy's.  [In  the  Russian  and  the  Japanese  armies.]  Four 
lunatic  wards  have  been  opened  [in  the  hospital].    .    .    . 

"The  wire,  chopped  through  at  one  end,  cut  the  air  and  coiled 
itself  around  three  soldiers.  The  barbs  tore  their  tiniforms  and  stuck 
into  their  bodies,  and,  shrieking,  the  soldiers,  coiled  round  like 
snakes,  spun  round  in  a  frenzy  ....  whirling  and  rolling  over  each 
other.  .  .  .  No  less  than  two  thousand  men  were  lost  in  that  one 
wire  entanglement.    While  they  were  hacking  at  the  wire  and  getting 


A   CONFIDENTIAL  WORD.  19 

entangled  in  its  serpentine  coils,  they  were  pelted  by  an  incessant 
rain  of  balls  and  grapeshot.  ...  It  was  very  terrifying,  and  if  only 
they  had  known  in  which  direction  to  run,  that  attack  would  have 
ended  in  a  panic  flight.  But  ten  or  twelve  continuous  lines  of  wire, 
and  the  struggle  with  it,  a  whole  labyrinth  of  pitfalls  with  stakes 
driven  at  the  bottom,  had  muddled  them  so  that  they  were  quite 
incapable  of  defining  the  direction  of  escape. 

"Some,  like  blind  men,  fell  into  funnel-shaped  pits,  and  himg  upon 
these  sharp  stakes,  twitching  convulsively  and  dancing  like  toy 
clowns;  they  were  crushed  down  by  fresh  bodies,  and  soon  the  whole 
pit  filled  to  the  edges,  and  presented  a  writhing  mass  of  bleeding 
bodies,  dead  and  living.  Hands  thrust  themselves  out  of  it  in  all 
directions,  the  fingers  working  convulsively,  catching  at  everything; 
and  those  who  once  got  cauglit  in  that  trap  could  not  get  back 
again:  hundreds  of  fingers,  strong  and  blind,  like  the  claws  of  a 
lobster,  gripped  them  firmly  by  the  legs,  caught  at  their  clothes, 
threw  them  down  upon  themselves,  gouged  out  their  eyes  and 
throttled  them.  Many  seemed  as  if  they  were  intoxicated,  and  ran 
straight  at  the  wire,  got  caught  in  it,  and  remained  shrieking,  luitil 
a  bullet  finished  them.  .  .  .  Some  swore  dreadfully,  others  laughed 
when  the  wire  caught  them  by  the  arm  or  leg  and  died  there  and 
then.  .  .  . 

"We  walked  along  ....  and  with  each  step  we  made,  that  wild, 
unearthly  groan  ....  grew  ominously,  as  if  it  was  the  red  air,  the 
earth  and  sky  that  were  groaning.  .  .  .  We  could  almost  feel  the 
distorted  mouths  from  which  those  terrible  sounds  were  issuing 
....  a  loud,  calling,  crying  groan.  .  .  .  All  those  dark  mounds 
stirred  and  crawled  about  with  out-spread  legs  like  half-dead  lobsters 
let  out  of  a  basket.  .  .  . 

"The  train  was  full,  and  our  clothes  were  saturated  with  blood, 
as  if  we  had  stood  for  a  long  time  under  a  rain  of  blood,  while  the 
wounded  were  still  being  brought  in.  .  .  . 

"Some  of  the  wounded  crawled  up  themselves,  some  walked  up 
tottering  and  falling.  One  soldier  almost  ran  up  to  us.  His  face 
was  smashed,  and  only  one  eye  remained,  burning  wildly  and  ter- 
ribly.   He  was  almost  naked.  .  .  . 

"The  ward  was  filled  with  a  broad,  rasping,  crying  groan,  and 
from  all  sides  pale,  yellow,  exhausted  faces,  some  eyeless,  some  so 
monstrously  mutilated  that  it  seemed  as  if  they  had  returned  from 
hell,  turned  toward  us. 

"I  was  beginning  to  get  exhausted,  and  went  a  little  way  off  to 
....  rest  a  bit.  The  blood,  dried  to  my  hands,  covered  them  like  a 
pair  of  black  gloves,  making  it  difficult  for  me  to  bend  my  fingers."  * 


*  Andreief :    The   Red   Laugh,   passim.    (Russian- Japanese   War 
literature.     Published  by  J.  Fisher  Unwin,  London.) 


30  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Would  it  not  be  a  strange  thing  to  see  a  banker,  a  bishop, 
a  railway  president,  a  coal  baron,  an  anti-labor  injunction 
judge,  and  a  United  States  Senator  all  hanging  on  stakes  in 
a  pit  with  scores  of  other  men  piled  in  on  top  of  them — all 
clawing,  kicking,  cursing,  wiggling,  screaming,  groaning, 
bleeding,  dying — "following  the  -flag" — patriotically  ? 

Such  would  indeed  be  a  strange  and  interesting  sight. 

Strange  and  interesting,  extremely  so — but  absolutely  im- 
possible. 

And  there  is  good  reason. 

Let  me  explain. 


I 


CHAPTER  TWO. 
What  Is  War? 

War  is  wholesale,  scientific  suicide  for  the  working  class 
under  orders  from  their  political  and  industrial  masters. 

War  is: 

For  working  class  homes — emptiness. 

For  working  class  wives — heartache. 

For  working  class  mothers — loneliness, 

For  working  class  children — orphanage, 

For  working  class  sweethearts — agony, 

For  the  nation's  choicest  working  class  men — ^broken 
health  or  death. 

For  society — savagery. 

For  peace — defeat. 

For  bull-dogs — suggestions, 

For  the  Devil — delight, 

For  death — a  harvest, 

For  buzzards — a  banquet. 

For  the  grave — victory. 

For  worms — a  feast, 

For  nations — debts, 

For  justice — nothing. 

For  "Thou  shalt  not  kill" — boisterous  laughter. 

For  literature — the  realism  of  the  slaughter  house. 

For  the  painter — the  immortalization  of  wholesale  murder, 

For  the  public  park — a  famous  butcher  in  stone  or  bronze. 

For  Roosevelts — opportunity  to  strut  and  brag  of  blood, 
and  win  a  "war  record"  for  political  purposes, 

For  Bryans — a  military  title  and  a  "war  record"  for  polit- 
ical purposes. 

For  Christ — contempt. 

For  "Put  up  thy  sword" — a  sneer. 


23  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

For  preachers,  on  both  sides, — ferocious  prayers  for  vic- 
tory, 

For  Sunday-school  teachers — blood-steaming  stories  for 
tender  children  and  helplessly  impressible  boys. 

For  bankers — bonds,  interest  (and  working  class  substi- 
tutes), 

For  big  manufacturers — business,  profits  (and  ■workiiig 
class  substitutes). 

For  big  business  men  of  all  sorts — "good  times"  (and 
working-class  substitutes). 

For  leading  business  men,  for  leading  politicians,  for  lead- 
ing preachers,  for  leading  educators,  for  leading  editors,  for 
leading  lecturers — for  all  of  these  windy  patriots  who  talk 
bravely  of  war,  who  talk  heroically  of  the  flag,  who  talk  finely 
of  national  honor  and  talk  and  talk  of  the  glory  of  battle — 
for  all  these  yawping  talkers — never  positions  as  privates  in 
the  infantry  on  the  firing  line  up  close  where  they  are  really 
likely  to  get  their  delicately  perfumed  flesh  torn  to  pieces. 

Thus  war  is  hell  for  the  woekixg  class.* 

It  is,  of  course,  true  that  in  ancient  times  the  leading 
citizens  did  much  of  the  fighting — but  that  was  very  long 
ago,  in  the  days  when  the  machine-gun  had  not  yet  been 
dreamed  of.  Even  two  thousand  years  ago  the  plutocratic 
snobs  were  beginning  to  show  traces  of  intelligence  sufficient 
to  avoid  going  to  hell  voluntarily — afoot. 

Says  Professor  E.  A.  Eoss:t 

"Service  in  the  Roman  cavalry,  originally  obligatory  on  all  who 
could  furniah  two  horses,  became  after  a  time  a  badge  of  superiority. 
'Young  men  of  rank  more  and  more  withdrew  from  the  infantry,  and 
the  legionary  cavalry  became  a  close  aristocratic  corps'.  .  .  .  Finally 
the  rich  came  to  feel  that  wealth  ought  to  buy  its  possessors  clear  of 
every  onerous  duty.  In  Caesar's  time  'in  the  soldiery  not  a  trace  of 
the  better  classes  could  any  longer  be  discovered  ....  the  levy  took 
place  in  the  most  irregular  and  unfair  manner.  Numerous  persons 
liable  to  serve  were  wholly  passed  over.  .  .  .  The   Roman  burgess 


*  See  Chapter  Seven  ("For  Father  and  the  Boys"),  Sections  14, 
15,  16 — "Were  not  some  of  the  rich  men  of  to-day  soldiers  at  one 
time?" 

f  The  Fsundations  of  Sociology,  pp.  220-221. 


WHAT  IS  WAR?  23 

cavalry  now  merely  vegetated  as  a  sort  of  mounted  noble  guard, 
whose  perfumed  cavaliers  and  exquisite  high-bred  horses  or.ly  played 
a  part  in  the  festivals  of  the  capital;  the  so-called  burgess  infantry 
was  a  troop  of  mercenaries,  swept  together  from  the  lowest  ranks  of 
the  burgess  population.' " 

At  present  a  movement  is  being  promoted  by  Harvard 
University  authorities  to  organize  in  the  University  "a  fash- 
ionable troop  of  cavalry."*  It  does  not  seem  likely  that  many 
members  of  the  labor  unions,  so  heartily  despised  by  scab- 
praising  ex-president  Eliot,  will  be  able  to  join  this  "fashion- 
able troop  of  cavalry."  The  labor  unionists  on  strike,  un- 
armed and  helpless,  may  later  come  in  handy  as  targets  for 
practice  by  the  highly  educated  "fashionable  troop  of  cavalry." 

After  all  is  "said  and  done"  concerning  wars  past  and 
present — what  is  really  determined  by  a  so-called  great  war? 

Which  of  two  warring  nations  is  the  nobler — is  that  what 
a  war  decides? 

Not  at  all. 

Which  of  the  two  bleeding  nations  is  the  more  refined — 
is  the  more  sensitive  to  the  cry  for  justice,  or  has  the  greater 
literature,  or  the  keener  appreciation  of  the  fine  arts,  or  is 
more  devoted  to  the  useful  arts  and  sciences,  or  contributes 
most  to  the  profounder  philosophy — which  of  the  two  warring 
nations  is  the  more  truly  civilized — is  that  what  is  decided 
by  war? 

Not  at  all. 

Which  of  the  struggling  nations  is  the  more  wholesomely 
social  ?    Does  a  war  make  that  evident  ? 

Not  at  all. 

Which  nation  has  the  better  cause?  Is  that,  then,  what 
a  war  decides? 

Not  at  all. 

Which  nation  does  more  for  the  progress  of  mankind? 
Is  that  made  clear  by  a  war  ? 

Not  at  all. 

A  war  decides  no  such  questions. 


*  See  New  York  World,  Nov.  21,  1909.    Also  Chapter  Eight,  Sec- 
tion 16. 


24  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Well,  then,  what  is  determined  when  two  nations  go  to 
war? 

Simply  this: — which  can  make  the  better  fight. 

That  is  all. 

And  that  is  exactly  what  is  determined  when  two  sharks 
fight,  or  when  two  tom-cats,  or  two  bull  pups  fight,  or  when 
a  cruel  hawk  and  a  sweet- throated  song  bird  fight:  which  is 
superior  as  a  fighter. 

War  is  the  ignoble  trick  of  slitting  open  the  blood  vessels 

of  the  excited  working  class  to  "satisfy"  the  "honor"  and  save 

the  pride  and  business  of  crowned  and  uncrowned  cowards  of 

the  ruling  class.     There  never  is  a  war  and  never  can  be  a 

war  till  the  working  men  are  willing  to  do  the  marching,  the 

trench-digging  and  the  actual  fighting,  bleeding  and  dying. 

x4.nd  the  working  men  are  never  willing  to  butcher  and  be 

butchered  wholesale  till  influential  but  coarse-grained  people 

of  the  capitalist  class  or  "highly  educated"  panderers  to  the 

capitalist  class,  craftily  or  ignorantly  excite  the  humble  toilers 

I  to  the  fiend's  stupid  mood  of  savage  hate.     First  come  the 

'powerful   editorials,"  the   "great   speeches,"  the  "eloqiient 

I  sermons,"  and  ferocious  prayers  for  the  war;  then  the  fife 

I  and  drum;  then  the  brain-storm  of  the  humble,  humbugged 

[working  men;  then  the  recruiting;  then  the  hand-waving  and 

'Good-bye,  boys,  good-bye,  good-bye";  then  the  butchering 

land  the  blood;  then  the  tears  and  taxes. 

It  is,  of  course,  true — grandly  true — and  is  here  gladly, 
gratefully  acknowledged — that  some  educated  influential  peo- 
ple are  too  highly  civilized,  too  finely  noble,  to  stoop  to  the 
shameless  business  of  rousing  the  slumbering  tiger  in  the 
human  breast.  Some  of  them  proudly  scorn  the  vicious  role 
of  throwing  fire-brands  into  the  inflammable  imagination  of 
the  weary  toilers.  These  have  courage — true  courage.  These 
we  greet  with  profound  gratitude. 

But  every-  lily-fingered  snob,  every  socially  gilt-edged 
coward,  every  intellectual  prostitute,  every  pro-war  preacher, 
every  self-exempting  political  shark,  and  every  well-fed  money- 
glutton,  who  dares  help  excite  the  working  class  for  the  hell  of 
war — these,  every  one  of  these — in  case  of  war,  should  be 


WHAT  IS   WAR?  25 

forced  to  dance  on  the  firing  line  to  the  hideous  music  of  the 
cannon's  roar  till  his  own  torn  carcass  decorates  a  "great 
battle"  field. 

And  to  this  end — as  part  of  their  own  emancipation — the 
working  class  should  make  all  haste  to  seize  the  powers  of 
government,  and  thus  be  in  position,  by  being  in  legal  posses- 
sion of  the  power,  to  make  and  enforce  all  laws  concerning 
war.  Beginning  now,  always  hereafter,  the  labor  unions,  the 
working  class  political  party,  and  all  the  other  working  class 
organizations  should  for  future  use,  keep  a  careful  record  of 
all  male  editors,  teachers,  preachers,  lawyers,  lecturers,  and 
"prominent  business  men"  and  politicians  and  "statesmen," 
who  speak,  or  write  or  even  clap  their  hands  in  favor  of  war ; 
and  in  case  of  a  war  thus  fostered,  these,  all  of  these,  should 
be  forced  by  special  draft  to  fight  in  the  infantry,  without 
promotion,  on  the  firing  line,  till  they  get-  their  share  of  the 
cold  lead  and  the  cold  steel.  Thus  let  the  mouthers  do  the 
marching,  let  the  shouters  do  the  shooting,  let  the  bawlers  do 
the  bleeding,  let  the  howlers  have  the  hell — force  them  to  the 
firing  line  and  force  them  to  stay  on  the  firing  line — and 
there  will  be  far  less  yawping  about  the  "honor"  and  the 
"glory"  of  war,  and  there  will  be  fewer  humble  homes  of  the 
poor  damned  with  the  desolation  of  war. 

But,  you  see,  for  all  such  self-defense  the  working  class 
must  as  soon  as  possible  capture  the  powers  of  government. 
You  see  that,  don't  you  ? 

Friend,  don't  curse  the  militiamen  and  the  soldiers.  No, 
no.  They  are  our  brothers.  Explain — with  tireless  patience 
explain — to  them  that  the  capitalists  seek  to  make  tools 
and  bullet-stoppers  of  them.  Explain  it  like  a  brother  inside 
and  outside  the  ranks  till  our  working-class  brothers  every- 
where— inside  and  outside  the  ranks — are  roused  to  a  clear 
consciousness  of  the  meaning  of  a  Gatling  gun  with  a  work- 
ing-class "man  behind  the  gun"  and  a  working-class  man  in 
front  of  the  gun. 

Brother,  stamp  this  into  your  brain  and  explain  it  into  the 
drain  of  our  brothers: — The  working  class  must  themselves 
protect  the  working  class. 


26  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

If  in  imagination  the  mothers,  sisters,  sweethearts  and 
wives  of  the  world  could  get  the  roar  of  the  cannon  in  their 
ears  and  feel  the  splash  of  blood  in  their  faces,  could  see  and 
hear  the  horrors  of  the  battlefield  and  the  agonies  of  the  war 
hospital,  they  would  never  again  be  fooled  into  smiling  caress- 
ingly upon  the  haughty  and  jaunty  "higher  officers,"  when, 
like  peacocks,  these  gilt-braided  professional  human  butchers 
strut  through  the  ball-rooms  and  through  the  streets  on  mili- 
tary dress  parade,  and  these  women  would  also  regard  the  pro- 
war  orator  with  complete  contempt. 

The  women  of  the  world  owe  a  great  debt  of  gratitude  to 
the  writers  of  some  powerful  pen  pictures  of  war.  The  terri- 
ble but  accurate  realism  of  some  of  their  descriptions  of  war 
makes  one  hate  the  word  war.  Emile  Zola's  story,  The  Down- 
fall* is  crowded  with  these  pictures.  The  Downfall  should 
be  in  a  million  American  private  libraries.  Following  is  a 
page  of  Zola's  flashlights  from  the  battlefields  of  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War,  1870-71  :t 

"At  no  time  during  the  day  had  the  artillery  thundered  more 
loudly  than  now.  ...  It  was  as  if  all  the  forces  of  the  nether  regions 
had  been  unchained;  the  earth  shook,  the  heavens  were  on  fire.  The 
ring  of  flame-belching  mouths  of  bronze  that  encircled  Sedan,  the 
eight  hundred  cannon  of  the  German  armies  ....  were  expending 
their  energies  on  the  adjacent  fields.  .  .  .  The  crash  that  told  of 
ruin  and  destruction  was  heard.  .  .  .  Some  lay  face  downward  with 
their  mouths  in  a  pool  of  blood,  in  danger  of  suffocating,  others  had 
bitten  the  ground  till  their  mouths  were  full  of  dry  earth,  others, 
where  a  shell  had  fallen  among  a  group,  were  a  confused,  intertwined 
heap  of  mangled  limbs  and  crushed  trunks.  .  .  .  Some  soldiers  who 
were  driving  a  venerable  lady  from  her  home  had  compelled  her  to 
furnish  matches  with  which  to  fire  her  own  beds  and  curtains. 
Lighted  by  blazing  brands  and  fed  by  petroleum  in  floods,  fires  were 
rising  and  spreading  in  every  quarter;  it  was  no  longer  civilized 
warfare,  but  a  conflict  of  savages,  maddened  by  the  long-protracted 


*  Excellent  English  translation  published  by  The  !Macmillan  Com- 
pany, New  York.  Excerpt  printed  with  kind  permission  of  pub- 
lishers. 

fin  Chapter  Five,  "Hell,"  Section  1,  "Modern  Murdering  Ma- 
chinery," is  plenty  of  proof  that  since  the  war  of  1870-71  the  slaugh- 
tering equipment  has  been  improved  horribly — ^more  than  a  hundred- 
fold.   See  Index:  "Franco-Prussian  War." 


WHAT  IS  WAR9  27 

strife,  wreaking  vengeance  for  their  dead,  their  heaps  of  dead,  upon 
whom  they  trod  at  every  step  they  took.  Yelling,  shouting  bands 
traversed  the  streets  amid  the  scurrying  smoke  and  falling  cinders, 
swelling  the  hideous  uproar  into  which  entered  sounds  of  every 
kind:  shrieks,  groans,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  the  crash  of  falling 
wall.  Men  could  scarce  see  one  another;  great  livid  clouds  drifted 
athwart  the  sun  and  obscured  his  light,  bearing  with  them  an  in- 
tolerable stench  of  soot  and  blood,  heavy  with  the  abominations  of 
the  slaughter.  In  every  quarter  the  work  of  death  and  destruction 
still  went  on:  the  hiunan  brute  unchained,  the  imbecile  wrath,  the 
mad  fury,  of  man  devouring  his  brother  man.  .  .  .  Horses  were 
rearing,  pawing  the  air,  and  falling  backward;  men  were  dismounted 
as  if  torn  from  their  saddle  by  the  blast  of  a  tornado,  while  others, 
shot  through  some  vital  part,  retained  their  seats  and  rode  onward 
in  the  ranks  with  vacant,  sightless  eyes.  .  .  .  Some  there  were  who 
had  fallen  headlong  from  their  saddle  and  buried  their  face  in  the 
soft  earth.  Others  had  alighted  on  their  back  and  were  staring  up 
into  the  sun  with  terror-stricken  eyes  that  seemed  bursting  from 
their  sockets.  There  was  a  handsome  black  horse,  an  officer's  charger, 
that  had  been  disemboweled,  and  was  making  frantic  efforts  to  rise, 
his  fore  feet  entangled  in  his  entrails.  ...  Of  the  brave  men  who 
rode  into  action  that  day  two-thirds  remained  upon  the  battlefield. 
...  A  lieutenant  from  whose  mouth  exuded  a  bloody  froth,  had 
been  tearing  up  the  grass  by  handfuls  in  his  agony,  and  his  stiffened 
fingers  were  still  buried  in  the  ground.  A  little  farther  on  a  captain, 
prone  on  his  stomach,  had  raised  his  head  to  vent  his  anguish  in 
yells  and  screams,  and  death  had  caught  and  fixed  him  in  that 
strange  attitude.  .  .  .  After  that  the  road  led  along  the  brink  of  a 
little  ravine,  and  there  they  beheld  a  spectacle  that  aroused  their 
horror  to  the  highest  pitch  as  they  looked  down  into  the  chasm,  into 
which  an  entire  company  seemed  to  have  been  blown  by  the  fiery 
blast;  it  was  choked  with  corpses,  a  landslide,  an  avalanche  of 
maimed  and  mutilated  men,  bent  and  twisted  in  an  inextricable 
tangle,  who  with  convulsed  fingers  had  caught  at  the  yellow  clay  of 
the  bank  to  save  themselves  in  their  descent,  fruitlessly.  And  a 
dusky  flock  of  ravens  flew  away,  croaking  noisily,  and  swarms  of 
flies,  thousands  upon  thousands  of  them,  attracted  by  the  odor  of 
fresh  blood,  were  buzzing  over  the  bodies  and  returning  incessantly." 

But  let  this  fact  burn  its  way  into  your  brain  to  save  you 
from  hell  and  rouse  you  for  the  revolution — this  fact: 

KOWHEBE  ON  ALL  THAT  BATTLEFIELD  AMONG  THE  SHAT- 
TERED RIFLES  AND  WRECKED  CANNON,  AMONG  THE  BROKEN 
AMBULANCES     AND     SPLINTERED     AMMUNITION     WAGONS,     NO- 


28  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

WHERE  IN  THE  MIRE  AND  MUSH  OF  BLOOD  AND  SAND, 
NOWHERE  AMONG  THE  BULGING  AND  BEFOULING  CARCASSES 
OF  DEAD  HORSES  AND  THE  SWELLING  CORPSES  OF  DEAD  MEN 
AND  BOYS — NOWHERE  COULD  BE  FOUND  THE  TORN^  BLOATED 
AND  FLY-BLOWN  CARCASSES  OF  BANKERS,  BISHOPS,  POLITI- 
CIANS, "brainy  capitalists''  AND  OTHER  ELEGANT  AND  EMI- 
NENT "very  best  PEOPLE." 

Well,  hardly. 

Naturally — such  people  were  not  there,  on  the  firing  line 
— up  where  bayonets  gleam,  sabres  flash,  flesh  is  ripped,  bones 
snap,  brains  are  dashed  and  blood  splashes. 

Why  NOT? 


Note  carefully  bottom  of  page  2 


OHAPTEE  THEEE. 
The  Situation — Also  the  Explanation. 

The  situation,  the  "lay  of  the  land,"  must  be  clearly  seen 
by  every  member  of  the  working  class  who  wishes  to  help  him- 
self and  his  fellow  workers  avoid  the  vicious  sacrifice  of  the 
working  class  by  the  capitalist  class. 

In  Chapter  Ten  of  this  book  the  unsocial  nature  of  the 
present  form  and  structure  of  society  is  explained  more  funda- 
mentally; but  just  here  notice  the  clash  of  class  interests  in 
a  war.  War  is  a  "good  thing"  for  one  class  and  war  is  simply 
hell  for  the  other  class. 

Wlio  want  war? — What  for? 

Who  declare  war  ? — What  for  ? 

Who  fight  the  wars? — What  for? 

Get  these  questions  straight  in  your  mind.  First  study 
the  Situation ;  then  the  Explanation.  Now  for  the  Situation. 
Here  it  is : 

Capitalists — "Captains  of  Industry" — "'Leading  Citi- 
zens" : — 

"We  want  war. 

"Mr.  Wage-Earner,  it  is  none  of  your  business  why  we 
business  men  want  war.  You  are  impudent  even  to  inquire 
about  such  things.  Little  boys  and  working  men  should  be 
seen  and  not  heard.  You  poor  deluded  wage-earner,  you 
just  keep  right  on  working  and  sweating  till  we  have  you 
ordered  to  the  front. 

"Ha,  ha,  when  we  business  men  want  a  war  we  have  a 
war — whether  the  working  people  like  it  or  don't  like  it.  We 
just  show  them  some  bright-colored  calico  and  urge  them  to 
follow  the  fi/ig.  Then  they  promptly  get  'behind  the  gun' 
(also  in  front  of  the  gun).  They  like  it  all  right — we  have 
'em  taught  to  like  it. 

"They  are  so  easy." 


30  WAB~WHAT  FOR? 

Statesmen — Politicians — "Leading  Citizens"  : — 

"We  declare  war. 

"Mr.  Wage-Earner,  don't  you  ask  any  impertinent  ques- 
tions about  why  we  statesmen  declare  war.  That's  our  busi- 
ness. Attend  to  your  own  business — working — just  working 
and  sweating — till  we  statesmen  order  you  to  the  front  and 
^sic'  you  on  some  other  working  people  somewhere.  When 
we  conclude  to  declare  war,  we  don't  consult  the  working 
men's  wishes.     We  simply  don't  have  to. 

"They  are  so  easy." 

Working  Class  Brothers — Off  for  the  Front — To 
Kill  "the  Enemy,"  Their  Working  Class  Brothers: 

"We  fight  the  wars. 

"Friend,  please  don't  ask  us  to  explain  why  we  fight  the 
wars.  We  really  do  not  know  why  we  fight  the  wars.  We 
modern  wage-earners  do  just  as  the  ancient  chattel  slaves 
and  serfs  did.  We  meekly  do  as  we  are  told  to  do  by  the 
^best  people.'  The  sleek,  glossy  folks  tell  us  to  'rush  to  the 
front' — so  we  meekly  march  right  to  the  front  and  blaze  away. 
We  furnish  the  tears,  blood,  cripples  and  corpses.  We  are  dead 
easy — and  we  don't  understand  it  at  all.  Of  course,  we  don't 
like  to  shoot  and  bayonet  one  another.  It  seems  so  strange 
to  us  that  the  working  men  should  always  be  ordered  to  shoot 
working  men; — but  our  'betters.'  our  'social  superiors,'  the 
'men  with  the  brains,'  tell  us  to  'show  the  stuff  that  is  in  us' 
— so  it  must  be  all  right.  Great  business  men  tell  us  fre- 
quently, 'What  this  country  needs  is  confidence.'  Well,  we 
working  people  have  the  confidence — also  the  blisters  and  the 
lemons  and  the  cold  lead. 

"We  are  so  easy." 

THE  EXPLANATION.* 

(A) — Capitalists  want  war — because — 
War  sends  up  prices — of  most  things. 


*  On  the  historical  origin  of  war  and  of  the  working  class,  see 
Chapter  Eleven. 


32  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

War  stimulates  business — makes  business  brisk; — the 
more  blood  the  more  business. 

War  means  more  investments  and  more  profits ; — the  more 
blood  the  more  bonds,  more  interest;  more  land  and  more 
rent; — more  unearned  income. 

War  helps  solve  the  problem  of  the  unemployed.  Simply 
have  the  surplus  workers  go  into  a  big  field  and  kill  them- 
selves off — butcher  one  another.    It  is  so  simple  and  easy. 

War  makes  the  working  people  clap  their  hands  and  yell 
so  loudly  they  can't  think,  and  as  long  as  the  working  people 
don't  thinks  it  is  easy  to  keep  the  bridles  and  saddles  on  them. 
It  is  surely  a  thoughtful  scheme; — really,  it  is  successful. 

War — to  advocate  war,  sometimes  makes  newspapers  vastly 
more  popular  and  therefore  more  profitable;  for  recent  ex- 
ample, the  Hearst  papers  for  the  Cuban  war  and  the  English 
jingo  papers  in  the  Boer  war.* 

War  makes  a  larger  home  market  for  toys;  that  is,  for 
fifes  and  drums  with  which  the  working  people  excite  one 
another  and  get  themselves  into  a  butchering  mood, — "ready 
to  die  for  their  homes  and  country,"  the  United  States,  for 
example,  in  which  far  more  than  half  of  all  the  people  have 


*  "The  modern  newspaper  is  a  Roman  arena,  a  Spanish  bull-fight 
and  an  English  prize  fight  rolled  into  one.  The  popularization  of  the 
power  to  read  has  made  the  press  the  chief  instrument  of  brutality. 
For  a  half  penny  every  man,  woman  and  child  can  stimulate  and 
feed  those  lusts  of  blood  and  physical  cruelty  which  it  is  the  chief 
aim  of  civilization  to  repress  and  which  in  their  literal  modes  of 
realization  have  been  assigned  ...  to  soldiers,  butchers,  sports- 
men, and  a  few  other  trained  professions.  .  .  .  The  most  momentous 
lesson  of  the  [Boer]  war  is  its  revelation  of  the  methods  by  which  a 
knot  of  men,  financiers  and  politicians  can  capture  the  mind  of  the 
nation,  arouse  its  passion  and  impose  a  policy." — John  A.  Hobson: 
The  Psychology  of  Jingoism,  pp.  29  and  107. 

"The  Bourses  [the  European  Wall  Streets]  of  the  West  have 
made  Cairo  and  Alexandria  hunting-grounds  for  their  speculation. 
Their  class  owns  or  influences  half  the  Press  of  Europe.  It  influ- 
ences, and  sometimes  makes,  half  the  Governments  of  Europe." — 
Frederic  Harrison:  National  and  Social  Problems,  p.  208.  See  also 
John  Bascom:  Social  Theories,  pp.  10n-]i6;  and  W.  J.  Ghent:  Our 
Benevolent  Feudalism,,  Chapter  7. 


w 


in 

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o 

o 

!2; 


34  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

no  homes  of  their  own  and  live  in  rented  houses,  and  more 
than  one-eighth  of  all  the  people  live  in  mortgaged  homes,* 
and  in  which  nearly  all  of  the  working  class  are  kept  so  poor 
that  they  can't  even  have  cream — real  cream  and  plenty  of  it 
— for  their  cheap  coffee.  The  fife  and  drum  and  some  pa- 
triotic wind  stampede  the  working  class  easily. 

"A  nod  from  a  lord  is  a  breakfast  for  a  fool." 

War — you  see  in  a  war  soldiers  produce  nothing,  but  they 
consume  and  destroy  vast  quantities  of  many  things.  Thus 
soldiers  in  war  create  a  larger  market — though  they  create 
nothing  whatever  for  that  market.  This  is  fine  for  those 
capitalists  whose  puny  souls  can  hope  and  plan  for  nothing 
higher  than  more  markets — and  thus  have  more  opportunity 
to  sweat  more  wage-earners  simply  in  order  to  make  more 
profits.  Funerals  look  good  to  the  coffin  trust  and  the  under- 
taker, and  war  looks  good  to  the  capitalist  class. 

War — PREPARATION  for  war  on  the  huge  scale  of  the 
present  day — furnishes  a  market  for  an  enormous  amount  of 
commodities  for  sale  by  the  capitalist  class,  such  as  steel, 
clothing,  leather  products,  lumber,  food  products,  horses,  and 
the  like.  True,  these  things  are  worse  than  wasted;  but  just 
as  the  capitalist  class  are  willing  to  destroy  part  of  the  coffee 
crop — in  Brazil,  for  example — in  order  to  keep  up  the  price 
for  profit's  sake,  so  also  are  the  capitalist  class  willing  to  fan 
the  flames  of  war  and  urge  "preparation  for  war,"  vast  and 
senseless  "preparation  for  war,"  in  order  to  have  a  market 
into  which  to  dump  at  a  profit  immense  stores  of  commodities. 

"There  is  money  in  it." 

War  is  a  means  of  opening  up  or  protecting,  for  modern 
capitalistic  exploitation,  new  territory,  such  as  Egypt,  Algeria, 
Madagascar,  South  Africa,  India,  Alaska,  The  Philippines, 
Borneo,  Hawaii,  Cuba,  Porto  Rico,  China,  Korea. 

United  States  Senator  A.  J.  Beveredge  puts  the  matter 

thus  :t 

"Every  progressive  nation  in  Europe  today  is  seeking  new  lands 
to  colonize  and  governments  to  administer." 


*  Census  Report,  1900.     Vol.  II.,  p.  cxcii. 
fThe  Meaning  of  the  Times,  p.  131. 


36  WAR— WHAT  FORf 

J.  H.  Kose:* 

"In  short,  the  crystallization  of  national  existence  at  home  has 
necessitated  the  eager  exploitation  of  new  lands  which  forms  so  note- 
worthy a  feature  of  the  life  of  today." 

Thus  John  Jayif 

"It  is  too  true,  however  disgraceful  it  may  be  to  human  nature, 
that  nations  will  make  war  whenever  they  have  a  prospect  of  getting 
anything  by  it." 

Alexandre  Hamilton  sneers  thus  at  the  windy  blood-for- 

proiit  statesmen  4 

"Has  commerce  hitherto  done  anything  more  than  change  the 
objects  of  war?  Is  not  the  love  of  wealth  as  domineering  and  enter- 
prising a  passion  as  that  of  power  or  glory?  Have  not  there  been 
as  many  wars  foimded  upon  commercial  motives  since  that  has 
become  the  prevailing  system  of  nations  as  were  before  occasioned  by 
the  cupidity  of  territory  or  dominion?  Has  not  the  spirit  of  com- 
merce, in  many  instances,  administered  new  incentives  to  the  appe- 
tite, both  for  the  one  and  for  the  other?" 

Professor  Simon  N.  Patten  (University  of  Pennsylvania) 
states  the  case  bluntly  :§ 

"Most  nations  have  been  formed  by  conquest,  and  have  there- 
fore started  with  a  dominant  and  a  subject  class.  The  former  seize 
the  surplus,  and  force  the  latter  to  work  for  a  bare  minimum." 

The  New  York  World  is  commendably  frank  concerning 
this  matter: II 

"Commerce  and  conquest  have  always  been  the  main  causes  of 
war.  Back  of  most  slogans  of  strife  has  ever  been  the  commercial 
watchword — 'trade  follows  the  flag.'  " 

As  illustrations  of  wars  due  to  economic  causes,  The  World 
mentions  the  wars  of  Venice  and  Genoa,  The  Crusades,  our 


*  The  Development  of  the  European  Nations,  1870-1900,  Vol.  II., 
p.  333. 

t  The  Federalist,  Number  4.  ( The  numbering  of  The  Federalist 
papers  varies  slightly  in  diflferent  editions.) 

t  The  Federalist,  Number  6. 

§  The  Theory  of  Prosperity,  p.  4. 

11  Editorial,   Oct.    13,    1909. 


THE  SITUATION— EXPLANATION.  37 

Frencli-and-Indian-War,   the   American   Revolutionarj^   War, 

and  the  American  Civil  War. 

General  Fred  D.  Grant,  of  the  United  States  Army,  threw 

this  into  the  teeth  of  the  lard-and-tallow  magnates  :* 

"It  is  your  statesmen  and  your  people  that  create  wars.  First 
the  people  become  irritated,  generally  through  some  commercial 
transaction.  The  statesmen  then  take  hold  of  the  matter  and  they 
compromise,  or  try  to,  if  the  nations  are  nearly  equal.  If  they  are 
not  nearly  equal  the  stronger  one  slaps  the  weaker  one  in  the  face 
and  the  soldier  is  then  called  in  to  settle  the  matter." 

War  tighiens  the  grip  of  the  industrial  ruling  class  on  the 
working  class  at  home  and  all  over  the  world. 

War — mark  this — war  absolutely  concentrates  public  at- 
tention upon  one  thing,  the  war,  the  events  of  the  battlefield. 
This  gives  the  crafty  capitalists  a  perfect  opportunity  to  sneak, 
to  do  things  in  the  dark,  while  the  people  are  "not  looking," 
opportunity  to  slip  into  city  council  chambers,  state  legisla- 
tures and  national  legislatures,  and  there  get  "good  things" — 
charters,  contracts,  franchises  and  other  profitable  privileges. 

Here  is  the  substance  of  the  matter: 

Under  capitalism  the  worker's  consuming  power  is  arhi- 
trarily  restricted.  Under  a  CLASS-labor  system  the  worker's 
life  is  always  arbitrarily  repressed,  the  worker  is  forced  to 

PRODUCE  MORE  THAN   HE  IS  PERMITTED  TO  CONSUME,  leaving 

a  SURPLUS  for  the  ruling  class.  Under  chattel  slaver3\  of 
course,  the  slave's  life  was  arbitrarily  restricted  by  his  mas- 
ter. The  chattel  slave  was  a  human  animal  used  to  produce 
his  "keep" — and  a  surplus.  Of  course  you  see  that — don't 
you?  Under  serfdom  the  serf's  life  was  arbitr^irily  restricted 
by  his  landlord-and-master.  The  serf  was  a  human  animal 
used  to  produce  his  "keep" — and  a  surplus.  That's  easy  to 
see,  isn't  it?  And  now  under  capitalism  the  wa.^e -earner's 
life  is  arbitrarily  restricted,  limited,  by  his  employer-master 
who  allows  the  wage-earner  a  reward  called  wages.  The  wage- 
earner  is  used  as  a  human  animal  to  produce  his  "keep" — 
a  living  for  himself  and  his  family — and  a  surplus. 


*  May  5,  1909,  Chicago,  Illinois,  at  banquet  given  by  the  Chicago 
Association  of  Commerce;  Press  reports. 


38  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Notice:  wages  will  not  buy  plenty  of  excellent  food. 
Wages  will  not  buy  plenty  of  good  clothing.  Wages  will  not 
buy  plenty  of  thoroughly  good  shelter.  Wages  will  not  buy 
plenty  of  high-grade  furniture.  Though  the  wage-earner  is 
able  and  willing  to  produce  and  does  produce  all  these  things 
abundantly,  yet  his  wages  will  not  permit  him  to  consume 
these  things  abundantly.  Wages  will  not  buy  as  much  value 
as  wage-paid  labor  produces. 

Thus  there  is  a  surplus. 

If  you  will  think  about  this  a  moment  (if  you  will  thinJc) 

you  will  understand  how  it  is  that  a  glossy,  well-fed  employer 

often  smilingly  asserts  that  "there is  prosperity — times  are  good 
— no  cause  for  complaint,"  and  so  forth — even  tho  millions  of 

the  poor  are  in  sore  want.  You  see  he  can  smile  as  gently  and 

fraternally  as  a  hyena — he  feels  good;  he  can  smile  as  long  as 

there  is  that  surplus.    That's  his.    It's  lovely — for  him. 

Surplus — fascinating  surplus. 

Surplus — for  "our  very  best  people." 

" As  soon   [in  the  evolution  of  human  industry]   as  the 

amount  produced  began  at  all  to  exceed  the  immediate  requirements 
of  life,  the  struggle  commenced  for  the  possession  of  the  surplus. 
The  methods  employed  were  as  varied  as  the  human  mind  was 
fertile."* 

Not  alone  chattel  slaves  and  serfs,  but  wa^e-slaves  also, 
are  used  simply,  only,  always,  as  domesticated  human  animals 
to  produce  a  surplus  for  their  masters. 

Slavery  was  a  surplus  game. 

Serfdom  was  a  surplus  game. 

Capitalism  is  also  a  surplus  game. 

By  pinching,  repressing,  restricting  the  wage-earner's  life 
the  capitalist  employer  skims  off  a  surplus.  By  belittling  the 
wage-earner's  life  the  employer  increases  his  own  life — with 
the  surplus  legally  filched  from  the  life  of  the  wage-earner. 

The  wage-worker,  under  capitalism,  is  forced  by  the  lash 
of  threatening  starvation,  forced  by  the  fear  of  the  bayonet, 
forced  by  the  threat  of  the  injunction  court — is  forced  to  pro- 
duce a  surplus. 

*  Lester  F.  Ward,  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  582. 


TEE  SITUATION— EXPLANATION.  39 

Besides  producing  the  equivalent  of  his  wages  and  all 
other  necessary  expenses  of  production  the  worker  is  com- 
pelled to  toil  on  for  weary  hours  producing  for  his  capitalist 
employer  this  surplus.     (See  Note,  end  of  present  Chapter.) 

This  surplus  is  the  sacred  wafer  of  the  capitalist. 

This  surplus  is  the  capitalist's  heart's  desire. 

This  surplus  is  the  lode-stone,  the  purpose,  the  one  and 
only  true  god  of  the  capitalist  class. 

With  this  surplus  the  capitalist  pays  the  capitalist's  "other 
expenses,"  and  also  pays  political  party  campaign  expenses, 
bribes  city  councils,  state  and  national  legislatures,  courts, 
mayors,  governors,  and  presidents — and  precinct  captains. 

With  this  surplus  the  capitalist  buys  fine  wine,  beautiful 
automobiles,  yachts,  opera  boxes,  and  homes — "and  so  forth." 

With  this  surplus  the  capitalist  pets  and  protects  his  para- 
sitic favorites,  male  and  female. 

This  sacred  surplus. 

Sweet  and  juicy  surplus,  bubbling,  bubbling,  ever  bubbling 
up  from  the  well-springs  of  capitalism — that  is,  from  certain 
"sacred"  property  rights,  the  right  to  own  privately  the  in- 
dustrial FOUNDATIONS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Surplus — stolen  life — by  means  of  the  wage-system  le- 
gally pumped  from  the  veins  of  the  wage-paid  toilers. 

Surplus. 

Let  that  word  sink  deep  into  your  mind. 

Fasten  your  eye  upon  that  surplus. 

Now,  notice  carefully : 

First — Part  of  this  surplus  the  capitalists  at  present  con- 
sume personally; 

Second — Part  of  this  surplus  the  capitalists  invest  profit- 
ably; 

Third — For  a  part  of  this  surplus  a  foreign  market  must 
be  found.  Even  tho'  millions  of  honest  workers  whose 
labor  produced  this  surplus,  even  tho'  these  and  millions  of 
their  wives  and  children  starve  and  shiver  for  the  use  of  this 
surplus — still  part  of  this  surplus  must  be  shipped  out  of  the 
country.  For  the  part  of  the  surplus  which  the  capitalist 
class  do  not  consume  personally  and  cannot  invest  profitably 


40  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

— for  that  part  of  the  surplus  a  foreign  market  must  be  had 
tho'  millions  suffer  and  sicken  for  higher  wages  with  which 
TO  BUY  that  surplus  which  is  being  shipped  abroad.  Because 
your  wages  will  not  permit  you  to  buy  and  enjoy  even  that 
part  of  the  surplus,  a  foreign  market  must  be  found  and  de- 
fended. 

And  now  we  come  to  the  bayonet  and  the  Gatling  gun — 
what  they  are  for. 

Commit  to  memory  and  discuss  with  your  fellow  workers 
the  following: 

Capitalists  want  soldiers,  marines,  militia,  cossacks, 
Pinkertons,  "coal-and-iron  police,"  and  so  forth — chiefly  for 
THREE  general  purposes : 

First:  To  hold  down  the  wage-earners  and  force  them 
to  consent  to  produce  a  surplus, — that  is,  more  than  their 
wages  will  buy; — or,  in  other  words,  to  force  them  to  consent 
to  produce  far  more  than  they  are  permitted  to  consume.  If 
the  employer  can't  get  a  palavering,  lying  prostitute  to 
wheedle  the  workers  to  consent — well,  there's  the  bayonet. 
See  that? 

Second:  To  open  up  foreign  markets  for  that  part  of 
the  surplus  which  the  workers  are  not  permitted  to  consume 
and  the  capitalists  do  not  consume  personally  or  invest  profit- 
ably; 

Third:  To  defend  the  foreign  markets  for  this  part 
of  the  surplus. 

Professor  T.  N.  Carver  (Department  of  Political  Econ- 
omy, Harvard  University)  states  the  case  perfectly:* 

"While  competition  is  absent,  commerce  is  indeed  a 
bond  of  peace  and  good  will  between  those  who  sell  in 
RETURN.  But  the  moment  that  two  nations  embark 
extensively  in  the  same  line  of  industry,  that  moment 
commerce  becomes  a  sword,  dividing  and  setting  at 
enmity  those  who  are  rivals  for  the  same  markets, 
.  .  .  The  prosperity  of  one  is  the  other's  destruction. 


*  Sociology   and    Social   Progress,    p.    170.      Emphasis   mine. — 
G.  R,  K. 


THE   SITUATION— EXPLANATION.  41 

Such  nations  stand  to  each  other  as  two  Indian  tribes 

WHERE  there  IS  BUT  GAME  ENOUGH  FOR  ONE.'" 

Thus  commerce  develops  into  militarism. 

A  PROTECTIVE  TARIFF  WALL  IS  EVIDENCE  AND  CONFESSION 
OF  THE  EXISTENCE  OF  EMBARRASSING  NATIONAL  SURPLUSES  OF 
PRODUCTS. 

The  capitalist  employer  does  not  wish  the  wage-earners  to 
get  such  things  into  their  minds. 

"Don't  say  a  word,"  caution  the  capitalists, — "the  workers 
can't  see  the  point  at  all.  Ha,  ha, — all  they  want  is  a  job. 
How  meek  they  are.  How  lamblike.  .  .  .  Just  suppose  they 
should  wake  up.  .  .  .  Here !  you  flunkies,  you  bribed  lec- 
turers, orators  and  editors,  keep  busy.  Keep  right  on  talking 
to  the  working  people.  Tell  the  working  class  .o  be  satisfied 
and  humble  and  contented ;  preach  to  them  that  it  will  be  all 
right  in  the  'sweet  bye  and  bye.'  Oh,  ha,  ha,  ha — all  right 
for  the  workers  'in  the  end.'  Don't  tell  them  which  end. 
Tell  the  workers  that  'something  will  turn  up,  sometime — 
sure.'  Tell  them  to  be  'patient  and  hopeful'  to  'hope  for  a 
home  over  there.'     (See  Chapter  Eleven.) 

"It  is  a  'cinch.' 

"If  the  workers  go  on  strike  to  get  a  small  thin  slice  of  the 
surplus — why,  we  capitalists  have  the  militia,  we  capitalists 
liave  police,  we  capitalists  have  the  cossacks,  we  capitalists 
iiave  the  mounted  State  guards,  we  capitalists  have  the  regular 
troops  and  marines,  and  we  capitalists  also  have  the  injunction 
courts  and  jails  and  'bull-pens,' — we  capitalists  have  all  this 
armed,  bribed  outfit  to  help  us  starve  the  workers  back  to 
their  jobs. 

"We  have  a  'sure  thing.' 

"Lie  low.     Keep  quiet. 

"Let  no  one  speak  to  the  workers  about  this  matter  of  the 
surplus.  The  worker  who  sees  that  beautiful  thing  called 
surplus,  ceases  to  be  a  tame,  blind  thing,  a  humble  lump,  con- 
tented with  only  part  of  the  product  of  his  labor.  .  .  .  But 
whatever  happens — we  business  men  control  the  powers  of  gov- 
ernment— and  that  gives  us  the  use  of  all  the  judges  in  gowns 
and  all  the  armed  men  in  khaki  we  need  to  defend  our  surplus 


42  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

game.  A  meek,  satisfied,  contented  wage-earner  is  such  a 
useful  animal — just  as  satisfactory  as  a  chattel  slave.  Like 
the  slave,  he's  willing  to  produce  a  surplus.  When  he  objects 
we  have  him  whipped  and  Tciclced — with  a  policeman's  club  or 
a  bayonet." 

Discuss  with  your  fellow  workers  this  also : — 
Armed  men,  more  and  more  armed  men^  must  be  had 
at  once  for  a  new  and  special  reason.  A  new  danger  is  now 
growing  vast  and  dark, — like  an  increasing  storm.  The 
army  of  the  unemployed — hungry,  insulted  and  angry,  not 
permitted  to  work,  not  permitted  to  produce,  not  permitted  to 
enjoy,  not  even  permitted  to  beg, — this  army  of  eager,  dis- 
gusted, angry  men  and  women  are  looking  through  the 
masters'  palace  windows,  where  the  masters  and  their  pets 
feast  on  good  things  and  sneer  at  the  unemployed.  With 
modern  machinery,  modern  methods,  modern  knowledge,  and 
modern  skill  the  workers  can  produce  vast  surpluses  so  rapidly 
that  the  capitalists  cant  dispose  of  it  all  promptly  either  in 
home  marl:ets  or  foreign  markets;  and  thus  cannot — dare  not 
— employ  all  the  workers  all  the  time  all  the  workers  are  will- 
ing to  work.  Thus  some  factories  are  run  part  time,  some 
are  run  reduced  force,  and  thus  millions  of  willing  workers 
are  snubbed  at  the  mill,  snubbed  at  the  mine,  and  snubbed  at 
the  factory  door  where  they  coax  for  permission  to  serve 
society  by  producing  useful  things.  Millions  in  danger  of 
losing  their  jobs,  millions  working  part  time,  millions  with 
wages  reduced,  millions  out  of  work — millions — these  millions 
are  growing  restless,  fretful,  thoughtful ;  the  capitalist  fears 
this  meek  fretfulness  and  thoughtfulness  will  grow  into  a 

vast,  loud,  BOLD  ROAR  OF  PROTEST-AND-DEMAND  BY  THE  WORK- 
ING CLASS. 

Therefore, 

Capitalists  want  more  military  legislation — and  get  it. 

Capitalists  want  the  strongest,  healthiest  jobless  men  to 
join  the  militia  and  the  army  and  be  ready  to  crush  the  other 
jobless  men,  ready  to  thrust  bayonets  into  the  rag-covered 
breasts  of  their  weaker  brothers  if  they  should  become  loudly 
desperate  with  hunger. 


THE   SITUATION— EXPLANATION.  43 

Therefore, 

Congress  in  1907-08,  legislating,  as  usual,  in  the  service  of 
the  capitalist  class,  logically,  naturally,  obediently,  still  further 
developed  the  armed  guard — the  militia,  the  army  and  the 
navy — the  fighting  machine,  the  fist  of  the  capitalist  class. 
In  March,  1908,  the  United  States  Government  suddenly 
opened  up  many  extra  recruiting  stations  in  New  York  City — 
in  the  open  air  in  the  public  parks,  where  tens  of  thousands 
of  jobless,  discouraged,  hungry  men  were  to  be  found.  The 
recruiting  officers'  chief  argument  was  "plenty  of  good  food 
and  clothing  and  not  much  to  do."* 

Capitalists  want  working  class  militiamen  and  soldiers, 
in  order  also  to  keep  them  so  flattered  and  excited  about  "pro- 
tecting property"  that  they  won't  notice  the  fact  that  the 
armed  defenders  of  property  have  no  property  of  their  own  to 
protect. 

It  is  so  simple  and  easy. 

Capitalists  do  indeed  want  war  and  military  servants — 
but  the  capitalists  are  too  shrewd,  too  self-respecting,  too 
proud  to  expose  their  own  well-fed  glossy  bodies  to  the  modern 
butchering  machinery.  In  time  of  war  or  "labor  troubles" 
these  "prominent  citizens"  stay  at  home,  eat  fine  food,  wear 
good  clothes,  sleep  in  warm  dreamy  beds — and  secretly  laugh 
at  the  poor  hoodwinked  fellows  on  the  firing  line  eating 
hard-tack" ; — they  stay  at  home  and  plan  for  more  profits — 
ever  more  profits  from  the  increasing  surplus. 

Capitalists  band  together  and  stand  together.  Capitalists 
are  class  loyal.  The  capitalist  class  even  hire  working-class 
men  to  defend  the  capitalist  class  vsdth  rifles;  shrewdly  the 
employers  confuse  and  hire  the  working  class  to  get  'behind 
the  gun"  to  murder  the  working  class  in  front  of  the  gun. 

(B) — The  politicians  declare  war:' 

Because  the  capitalists  want  war. 

The  politicians  are  either  capitalists  themselves  or  the 
political  lackeys  of  the  capitalists ;  and  these  ignoble  flunkies 
take  their  pay  in  offices  and  opportunities  to  get  graft.     The 


« 


•  See  Index :  "Recruiting." 


44  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

capitalists  pay  the  campaign  expenses  of  their  political  flun- 
kies, and,  of  course,  whenever  the  capitalists  want  war  their 
political  flunkey  prostitutes  declare  war.*  After  the  war,  on 
great  public  occasions,  the  politicians  serve  up  some  orator- 
ically  noisy  nonsense  to  the  widows  and  orphans  and  the  poor 
old  broken-down  veterans  about  the  "glory"  of  the  war — 
about  the  grandeur  of  slaughtering  and  being  slaughtered. 
Eight  here  is  where  the  fun  comes  in  for  the  politicians,  and 
sometimes  for  some  ministers, — in  seeing  an  opera-houseful 
or  a  groveful  of  working  men  clap  their  hands  together  and 
yell  when  the  politicians,  or  some  ministers,  sometimes, 
whoop  and  yawp  and  tell  the  working  class  all  about  the  glory 
and  grandeur  of  war.  No  wonder  the  politicians  secretly 
laugh.     How  stupidly  ridiculous  ! 

The  glory  of  brothers  butchering  and  being  butchered — by 
themselves ! 

To  "declare  war"  makes  statesmen  and  rulers  popular. 

In  our  own  country  "war"  presidents,  "war"  governors,  "war" 

congressmen,  are  almost  invariably  re-elected. 

"The  temptations  of  party  politicians  are  of  many  kinds.  .  .  . 
The  worst  is  the  temptation  to  war.  .  .  .  Many  wars  have  been 
begun  or  have  been  prolonged  in  order  to  consolidate  a  dynasty  or  a 
party;  in  order  to  give  it  popularity  or  at  least  to  save  it  from 
unpopularity;  in  order  to  divert  the  minds  of  men  from  internal 
questions  which  have  become  embarrassing,  or  to  efface  the  memory 
of  past  quarrels,  mistakes  or  crimes.  Experience  unfortunately 
shows  only  too  clearly  how  tlie  combative  passion  can  be  aroused  and 
how  much  popularity  can  be  gained  from  a  successful  war."-f 

Politicians  do  not  join  the  militia  and  the  army  for  actual 
service  on  the  firing  line — oh,  no !  No,  thank  you.  They 
pass  laws  "to  make  the  service  attractive" — ^but  they  are  so 
very  careful  not  to  let  the  attractions  attract  them. 

The  fact  is,  my  friend,  the  "cold  shoulder"  from  superior 
officers,  and  cold  victuals,  cold  tents,  cold  lead,  cold  steel, 
and  a  puny  fifteen  or  twenty  dollars  per  month  for  murdering 
and  being  murdered — and  the  cold,  cold  ground  for  their 

*  For  excellent  example,  see  Chapter  VI:  "Tricked  to  the 
Trenches — Then  Snubbed,"  Fifth  Illustration. 

fW.  E.  Lecky:    The  Map  of  Life,  pp.    153-54. 


THE   SITUATION— EXPLANATION  45 

own  cold  corpses — with  infinite  heartache,  sighs,  sobs,  tears, 
and  loneliness  for  their  own  dear  ones — these  things  have  no 
attraction  for  the  shrewd  men  who  profit  by  war  and  the 
crafty  men  who  declare  war. 

Capitalist  statesmen — that  is,  small  men  with  big  manners 
— politicians  of  the  capitalist  class,  politicians  financed  by 
and  for  the  capitalist  class — these  all  band  together,  stand 
together.  The  capitalist  "reformer"  always  stands  for 
CAPITALISM — tho'  he  is  willing  to  spray  it  heavily  with  per- 
fume. These  are  class  loyal.  They  manipulate  all  the 
powers  of  government — including  the  department  of  war — in 
defence  of  the  capitalist  class.  They  even  hire  working  men 
— ^with  rifles. 

(C) — The  working  men  fight  the  war: 

Because  they  are  meek  and  modest  and  humble  and  docile, 
and  are  always  gullibly  ready  to  obediently  do  whatever  their 
crafty  political  and  industrial  masters  order  them  to  do.  So, 
whenever  the  capitalists  want  war  and  the  politicians  declare 
war,  the  flimfiammed,  bamboozled  luorbing  man  straps  on  a 
knapsack,  shoulders  a  rifle  (or  takes  a  policeman's  club),  kisses 
his  wife  and  children  good-bye,  and  marches  away  to  fight  a 
war  he  didn't  want,  a  war  lie  didn't  declare,  a  war  that  belittles 
and  wrongs  him  by  injuring  his  class, — and  marches  away  to 
butcher  other  working  men  whom  he  doesn't  know  and  against 
whom  he  has  no  quarrel.  He  yells,  kills,  and  slaughters — 
because — simply  because — because — some  crafty  crooks,  called 
"prominent  people,"  tell  him  to  do  so.  He  screams  and  gets 
slain,  he  yells  and  gets  slaughtered — simply  because  he  does 
not  understand  the  sly,  devilish  trick  that  is  thus  being 
played  upon  him  and  his  class.  Young  working  men  are 
shrewdly  flattered  into  joining  the  militia  and  the  army  in 
order  to  help  the  capitalist  class  force  the  loorTcing  class  to 
Jceep  still  and  starve;  or  accept  cheap  food,  cheap  clothing, 
cheap  shelter  and  cheap  furniture  as  all  of  their  share  for 
all  their  work  for  all  their  lives. 

Suppose  the  working  man  has  a  son  in  the  local  militia 
company,  and  suppose  Mr.  Workingman  goes  out  on  strike  for 


46  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

two  or  three  more  nickels  per  day  with  which  to  buy  better 
food  for  the  young  militiaman's  own  mother  and  his  little 
brothers  and  sisters.  This  young  man  in  the  militia  com- 
pany can  be  ordered  to  shoot  or  bayonet  his  own  father  who, 
on  strike,  is  struggling  for  a  few  cents  more  with  which 
to  buy  better  food  for  the  humble  mother  and  hungry  little 
brothers  and  sisters — if  the  father  on  strike  doesn't  keep  quiet 
and  remain  docile  while  the  local  industrial  masters  starve 
him  back  to  his  old  job  at  his  old  wages.  The  capitalist  holds 
the  whip  of  hunger  over  the  working  class  father's  back,  and 
the  working  class  son  holds  a  rifle  at  his  own  father's  breast. 
The  father  must  surrender.  Thus  the  young  militiaman 
wrongs  his  own  class,  outrages  his  own  father,  helps  humble 
his  own  little  brothers  and  sisters,  and  spits  in  his  own 
mother's  face. 

The  war  is  the  class  war. 

The  militiamen  and  policemen  are  local  soldiers  ready  for 
orders  to  shoot  their  neighbors,  friends  and  relatives  in  the 
struggle  for  existence.  In  the  industrial  civil  war  the  capi- 
talist class  starve,  seduce  and  bribe  the  working  class  to  fight 

BOTH    SIDES    OF    THE    BATTLES. 

The  rulers  rule.    They  think — and  win  by  thinking. 

Think  it  over,  young  man.  Be  loyal  to  your  own  father 
and  mother  and  your  own  brothers  and  sisters — and  your  own 
class.     Be  class  loyal. 

The  working  class  themselves  must  save  the  working  class. 

Eead  Chapter  Ten:  "Now,  What  Shall  We  Do  About  It?" 

Note:  It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  the  working  class 
reader  should  learn  what  his  employer  does  not  wish  to  have  him 
learn  concerning  value,  surplus  value,  rate  of  surplus  value,  profit, 
rate  of  profit,  profit  to  capitalist  class,  profit  to  individual  capitalist 
employer,  division  of  the  spoils  of  exploitation  among  capitalists, 
etc.,  etc.  Mr.  Joseph  E.  Cohen's  small  book.  Socialism  for  Stu- 
dents, is  a  model  of  clearness  for  the  reader  who  is  too  busy  to  read 
big  books  and  yet  wishes  to  inform  himself  accurately  on  the 
secrets  of  this  legalized  robbery.  This  book  (published  by  Charles 
H.  Kerr  and  Company,  Chicago)  is  just  what  a  busy  worker  needs 
in  making  a  beginning  in  those  economic  and  sociological  studies 
which  will  give  him  a  large  outlook  upon  the  world  and  a  deep 
inlook  into  the  mainsprings  of  human  society. 


Soldiers,  cossacks  and  militiamen  are  to  the  capitalist  class 
what  beaks  are  to  eagles  and  tusks  are  to  tigers. 


CHAPTER  FOUR. 
The  Cost  of  War— In  Blood  and  In  Cash. 

SECTION    i:    THE    COST    IN    BLOOD. 

"Ez  fer  war — I  call  it  murder." — James  Russell  Lowell.* 
"The  hero  is  a  species  of  assassin." — Victor  Hugo.| 

Human  blood,  human  life,  under  the  present  industrial 
form  of  society,  is  so  cheap  that  even  a  sweet  child's  life,  as 
a  wa^e-earner,  in  the  factory,  can  be  bought  for  a  few  cents  a 
day — almost  a  drug  on  the  market,  the  "labor  market,"  So 
cheap  indeed  is  the  life  of  the  wage-working  class  that  the 
blood  cost  of  war  is  regarded  as  comparatively  unimportant — 
considered  unimportant  by  all  except  those  who  are  sneeringly 
referred  to  as  "sentimental  people."  These  "sentimental 
people"  presume  to  assert  that  the  superiority  of  a  nation's 
civilization  is  more  convincingly  indicated  by  its  sacred  regard 
for  the  purity  and  dignity  of  human  blood  than  by  its  cheap 
and  swaggering  boasts  about  big  battleships,  "blooded"  cattle, 
"blooded"  horses,  and  "young  men  not  only  willing  but 
anxious  to  fight,"$  or  by  the  nation's  strutting  announcement 
of  our  "readiness"  to  spill  the  toilers'  blood  at  the  factory 
door  and  on  the  battlefield. 

Cheaply  spilt  human  blood  surely  indicates  a  civilization 
fundamentally  coarse  and  cheap. 

Until  human  blood,  human  life,  becomes  too  sacred  to  bo 
sold  for  cash  to  escape  starvation  or  bought  for  cash  to  win 
a  profit  on  the  bartered  labor  power — too  sacred  to  be  thus 
placed  on  sale,  exchanged  in  the  "labor  market"  as  horses  and 


*  Biglow  Papers. 

f  Lecture  on  Voltaire. 

t  "I  want  for  soldiers  young  men  not  only  willing  but  anxious 
to  fight," — that  foul  and  savage  saying  is  one  of  the  choice  mouth- 
ings  of  Theodore  Roosevelt,  in  a  public  address  in  which  that  cheap, 
distinguished  and  much  flattered  Noise  disgraced  the  office  of  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  "Republic." 


48  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

sheep  are  bought  and  sold  in  the  "live-stock  market," — until 

then  it  will  simply  be  impossible  to  realize  the  hideousness  of 

the  blood  cost  of  war,  impossible  to  compute  and  realize  the 

vastness  of  the  red  crime  committed  against  the  working  class, 

— against 

"The  poor  souls  for  whom  this  hungry  war  opens  its  vast  jaws." 

The  blood  cost  of  war  ? 

War  spills  the  blood  of  slain  soldiers. 

War  spills  the  blood  of  non-combatants. 

War  weakens  the  blood  of  soldiers  who  are  smitten  with 
befouling  fevers  and  whose  wounds  and  sores  fester  unattended 
on  the  battlefield  or  are  ill-attended  in  rude  military  hospitals. 
Disease,  in  war,  strikes  with  death  four  times  as  many  soldiers 
as  are  killed  with  lead  and  steel.* 

War  weakens  the  national  blood  by  selecting  the  strong- 
blooded  for  slaughter,  thus  reversing  nature's  method  of 
selecting  the  weaker  blooded  for  destruction. 

War  tends  to  open  opportunity  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence for  the  relatively  weaker  blooded  to  multiply  in  dis- 
proportionate degree. 

War,  it  is  estimated,!  prevents,  on  the  average,  the  birth 
of  one  child  per  soldier  slaughtered  on  the  battlefield,  or  serv- 
ing three  years  or  more  in  peace  or  war. 

War  weakens  the  blood  of  the  nation  by  worse  than  wast- 
ing enormous  supplies  of  food  material  and  thus  underfeeding 
those  who  toil. 

War  weakens  the  national  blood  by  tainting  the  blood  of 
great  numbers  of  soldiers  and  through  these  tainting  the  blood 
of  women  and  children — with  venereal  diseases  contracted  in 
unusual  degree  near  the  barracks  and  during  war,  and  imme- 
diately following  war.  President  William  H.  Taft,  as  Secre- 
tary of  War,  has  said  :$ 

"Venereal  diseases  were  again  by  far  the  most  important  diseases 
affecting  the  efficiency  of  the  Army  during  the  year.     There  were 

*  See  Chapter  Five,  Section  Two;  Chapter  Eight,  Section  11; 
also  Index:  "Disease  in  the  Army." 

f  Chatterton-Hill:  Heredity  and  Selection  in  Sociology,  pp. 
320-22. 

t  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1907,  p.  17. 


TEE  COST  OF  WAR.  49 

constantly  on  sick  report  for  this  class  of  affections  739  men,  equal 
to  the  loss  for  the  entire  year  of  the  service  of  about  eleven  full 
companies  of  infantry.  ...  As  a  cause  for  discharge  venereal 
diseases  were  second." 

Still  more  recently  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  J.  M.  Dick- 
inson, reports  thus  on  the  befouling  of  the  blood  of  soldiers  :* 

"The  diseases  causing  the  greatest  non-effective  rate  are 
in  the  order  of  importance:  venereal  diseases,  tuberculosis, 
malaria^,  rheumatism,  tonsilitis,  dysentery,  diarrhea,  bron- 
chitis, measles,  typhoid  fever. 

"Venereal  diseases  cause  a  greater  sick  rate  than 
all  the  others  added  together.'' 

One  of  the  best  known  publicists  in  the  world,  Mr.  William 

T.  Stead,  puts  the  matter  thus : 

"Four  out  of  five  of  all  English  soldiers  who  serve  two  years 
or  more  are  tainted  with  venereal  diseases."-*- 

In  the  present  chapter,  devoted  to  the  cost  of  war  in  blood 
and  in  cash,  there  is  for  the  "blood  cost"  space  for  but  little 
more  than  some  statistics  sufficient  to  indicate,  for  illustrative 
purposes,  the  amount  of  blood  actually  spilt  in  war  during  the 
last  three  generations.  The  authority  for  the  statistical  mat- 
ter following  is,  chiefly,  Chatterton-Hill's  Heredity  and  Selec- 
tion in  Sociology;  G.  de  Lapouge's  Les  Selections  Sociales; 
and  J.  Bloch's  The  Future  of  War.  % 

The  hot,  red  flood  gushing  from  the  torn  veins  of  the 
working  class,  seduced  or  forced  to  attend  "Death's  feast"  to 
slaughter  and  be  slaughtered  in  little  more  than  one  brief 
hundred  recent  years,  may  be  measured  thus : 

In  the  French  Wars  of  the  Revolution,  1789-1795— 

Frenchmen   1,800,000 

Other  Europeans   2.500.000 


*  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1909,  p.  17.  Em- 
phasis mine.    G.  R.  K. 

t  Quoted  by  Elbert  Hubbard  in  Health  and  Wealth.  See  Neio 
Age,  Aug.  5,  1909. 

tSee  also  President  D.  S.  Jordan's  brilliant  sociological  studies 
of  war,  references  in  Chapter  XII.  of  present  volume.  Of  some  in- 
terest are  Victor  Hugo's  estimates  in  William  Shakespeare,  Part 
Third,  Book  III.,  Chapter  I. 


60  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Wars  of  the  Empire,  1795-1815— 

Frenchmen   2,600,000 

Other  Europeans  3,500,000 

In  European  and  American  wars  since  1815 — 
According  to  Lapouge's  estimate.  . .  .9,450,000 
Grand   (Extremely  Grand)    Total.  .19,850,000  * 

This  total  does  not  show  the  spilt  blood  of  perhaps  one 
hundred  million  men  wounded,  in  battle,  but  not  killed. 

It  is  specially  important  to  consider  also  that  this  enor- 
mous total  of  twenty  million — in  round  numbers — does  not 
include  many  millions  of  non-combatants  who  in  one  way 
and  another  were  destroyed  during  the  wars  and  in  conse- 
quence of  the  wars,  nor  the  immense  number  of  non-com- 
batants wounded  but  not  destroyed,  nor  the  vast  amount  of 
blood  befouled  and  weakened  with  disease. 

The  number  of  men  destroyed  as  combatants  in  the  Franco- 
German  War  was  215,000.  Lapouge  estimates  that  for  the 
brief  Franco- German  War  the  number  of  deaths  among  the 
non-combatants  above  the  number. that  would  have  died  at 
the  normal  death  rate  within  the  period  consumed  by  the  war 
if  there  had  teen  peace,  was  450,000.  That  is  to  say,  during 
that  short  war  of  1870-71  the  number  of  non-combatants 
whose  death  was  due  to  the  war  was  more  than  double  the 
number  destroyed  directly  in  the  war.  Now  if  this  extra 
death-harvest  rate  among  the  non-combatants  be  calculated 
as  being  somewhat  less  than  half  true  for  all  the  wars  of  the 
civilized  world  for  about  one  hundred  years  following  1789. 
we  can  safely  add  to  the  twenty  millions  slaughtered  on  the 
battlefield  and  in  the  military  hospitals — to  these,  I  say,  we 
can  add  twenty  millions  more,  who,  like  the  four  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  non-combatants  in  1870-71,  were  smitten 
with  the  death-breath  of  war. 

This  gives  us  a  "grand"  total  of  forty  millions  (40,000,- 
000)  men,  women,  and  children  actually  slaughtered  or  other- 
wise destroyed  as  a  result  of  one  hundred  years  of  "splendid" 

•  Chatterton-Hill  in  Heredity  and  Selection  in  Sociology  makes 
the  total  21,000,000. 


WORN-OUT    BOXING   GLOVES   OF  THE   BULING   CLASS 


52  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

and  "glorious"  and,  "grand"  and  "Christianized"  war;— 
and  (blessed  be  the  "mysterious  will  of  God  who  reigns"  but 
doesn't  rule  under  capitalism)    these  forty  million  lives  were 

mostly  WORKING  CLASS  LIVES. 

Forty  million  lives  in  one  brief  century  slashed  down  by 
Mars,  the  "glorious"  god  of  battles. 

One  Christian  century — a  festival  of  fiends,  a  loud  ha,  ha 
from  Hell. 

One  Christian  century — a  gash  in  the  breast  of  the  work- 
ing class. 

One  Christian  century — M?rs  and  Caesar  spitting  in  the 
face  of  the  nobly  peaceful  Christ. 

One  Christian  century — a  sea  of  blood. 

One  Christian  century — an  ocean  of  tears. 

One  Christian  century — the  butchering  of  brothers  by 
brothers. 

One  Christian  century — a  groan,  a  sigh,  a  sob. 

Mars,  god  of  war,  devourer  of  men,  scourge  of  women  and 
curse  of  little  children;  Mars,  "strife  and  slaughter  .  .  .  the 
condition  of  his  existence,"  rushing  in  "without  question  as 
to  which  side  is  right,  ...  on  his  head  the  gleaming  helmet 
and  floating  plume";  Mars,  "well-favored,  stately,  swift,  un- 
wearied, puissant,  gigantic  .  .  .  foe  of  wisdom  and  scourge 
of  mortals";  Mars  whose  "emblems  are  the  spear  and  the 
burning  torch,  his  chosen  animals  the  vulture  and  the  dog"  ;* 
Mars,  butcher  of  mankind;  Mars  fiendishly  drunk  on  the 
tears  of  women  and  children;  Mars,  the  mock  of  mothers, — 
this  race-cursing  god,  hour  after  hour,  day  and  night,  through 
a  whole  hundred  recent  years,  has  devoured  one  human  being, 
has  drunk  more  than  two  gallons  of  human  blood — every 
twenty  minutes. 

A  torrent  of  blood  has  gushed  from  the  deep,  damned 
war-wound  in  the  breast  of  the  working  class.  And  in  this 
the  morning  of  the  twentieth  Christian  century  we  hear  the 
mouthings  of  hypocrisy,  but  we  see  the  strut  and  dare  of 
crowned  and  flattered  brutes  and  buccaneers  everywhere. 


See  Galey:  Classic  Myths  of  English  Literature,  pp.  57-8. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  IGNOBANCE  OBETINQ  OBDEB3 


54  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

"Base  distrust,  the  red-eyed  hound  of  hate, 
Rules  in  a  -vvorld  by  phantom  foes  alarmed." 

Ever^-where  we  see  the  crowned  and  consecrated  cut- 
throats preparing  for  war.  Soon  again  the  booming  roar  of 
"gun  thunder"  will  terrif}'  the  world.  Even  now  in  Turkey, 
in  liussia,  in  Spain  and  in  Africa  the  blood  of  humble  work- 
ing class  brothers  is  being  splashed  in  the  face  of  mankind. 

Rouse,  brothers,  rouse! 

Eefuse!  Eefuse  to  paint  this  sad  world  red  with  the 
blood  of  the  toilers  fooled  by  the  mocking  flattery  of  gilded 
cowards. 

Let  us  force  Senators.  Congressmen,  and  Presidents — ^let 
us  force  Tsars,  Emperors.  Kings,  Lords,  Dukes  and  the  In- 
dustrial blasters  also — let  us  force  every  one  of  these  shrewd, 
proud  cowards  into  the  bloody  mire  of  the  firing  line  and 
compel  them  to  stay  there  till  by  spilling  their  own  blood 
they  learn  what  war  is — for  the  working  class. 

The  capture  of  the  powers  of  government  by  the  working 
class  for  the  working  class — that  is  our  first  move. 

The  u-arking  class  must  defend  the  working  class. 


SECTION   II  :  THE   COST  IX   CASH. 

Eemember — always  remember:  All  the  expenses  of  all 
the  wars  in  all  the  world  in  all  time  have  been  paid  with  the 
results  of  productive  labor.  Always — finally — the  working 
class  pay  all  the  expenses  of  all  wars. 

In  a  war 

(1)  Soldiers  cease  to  produce  wealth, 

(2)  Soldiers  continue  to  consume  wealth, 

(3)  Soldiers  actively  destroy  wealth. 

A  war  involves  three  general  items  of  expense ;  namely. 
Expenses  before  the  war : — preparation 
Expenses  during  the  war : — direct  expenses,  destruc- 
tion of  property,  loss  of  producing  power,  etc. 
Expenses  after  the  war: — pensions,  interest  on  bonds, 
etc. 


THE  COST  OF  ^VAR.  55 

"In  determining  the  cost  of  a  war/'  says  one  writer,* 
"the  items  to  be  considered  may  be  set  down  as  follows: 

(1)  Preparations  for  prospective  wars 

(2)  Direct  expenditures 

(3)  Indirect  losses 

(a)  Destruction  and  depreciation  of  property 

(b)  Labor  value  wasted 

(c)  Damage  to  trade 

(d)  Displacement  of  capital 

(4)  Subsequent  expenditures 

(a)  Comxpensation  for  property  destroyed 

(b)  Pensions  and  relief  for  the  distressed 

(c)  Interest  on  debt  incurred 

(5)  Deterioration  of  population 

(6)  Moral  results  and  effects  on  the  vanquished." 
Now  let  us  try  to  get  an  idea  of  the  actual  cash  cost  of  war 

in  general  by  studying,  first,  the  cash  cost  of  one  war  as  a 
specimen.  Let  us  take  the  American  Civil  War.  In  the 
statement  here  following,  items  (-ib)  and  (5)  are  somewhat 
over-estimated;  item  (6)  is  greatly  underestimated.  It  is  to 
be  noted  also  that  the  following  on  the  Civil  ^Var  does  not 
include  all  the  items  of  the  actual  cash  cost  of  that  war;  for 
examples,  the  economic  loss  in  the  weakening  of  the  national 
blood,  and  the  loss  of  the  producing  power  of  the  soldiers  on 
both  sides  during  the  war,  the  latter  loss  being  probably  more 
than  $2,000,000,000.  Two  other  very  heavy  items  omitted  here 
are  the  more  than  $2,000,000,000  that  must  in  future  years 
be  paid  out  as  interest  on  Civil  War  bonds  and  as  Civil  War 
pensions;  and  the  $600,000,000  paid  out  in  Civil  War  pen- 
sions from  1906  to  1910.  However,  if  the  omissions  are  care- 
fully noted,  the  itemized  statement  will  be  found  helpful  in 
realizing  the  cash  cost  of  war. 

The  American  Civil  War — Its  Cost  in  Cash : 

(1)  Direct  expenditures,  South $5,000,000,000.00 

(2)  Direct  expenditures,  North 5.000.000.000.00 

(3)  Increase  in  National  Debt 2,800,000,000.00 


*Restelle:  Arena,  October,  1906. 


56  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

(4)  Interest     on     National     War 
Debt: 

(a)  1865  to  1898 2,562,619,835.00 

(b)  1898  to  1910  (estimated)  400,000,000.00 

(5)  Pensions,  total  to  June  30,1906  3,259,195,396.60 

(6)  Lost  labor-jDower : 

One  million  selected  men, 
slaughtered  in  battle  or  de- 
stroyed during  the  war  by 
disease ;  *  or  from  wounds 
and  disease  rendered  wholly 
or  partially  unproductive  for 
an  average  term  of  twenty- 
five  years  following  the  war: 
— an  average  loss  to  society 
per  man,  thus  killed  or  weak- 
ened, of  $500  for  twenty-five 
years  for  one  million  men. .   12,500,000,000.00 


Total  ("Grand"  Total) $31,521,815,231.60 

This  sum,  more  than  thirty-one  and  a  half  billion  dollars, 
this  sum  looks  different  from  the  "Cost  of  the  Civil  War"  as 
it  is  commonly  set  forth  in  elementary  school  histories  for 
deludable  children. f 

Here  is  a  suggestion:  Have  your  child  or  some  child 
of  your  acquaintance  discuss  this  matter  in  the  public  school. 
The  child  should  be  assisted  in  preparing  an  attack  upon  the 
misrepresentation  in  the  ordinary  common  school  "History 
of  the  United  States." 

This  sum,  thirty-one  and  a  half  billion  dollars,  is  well 
worth  consideration. 

This  sum  would  pay  for  a  1700-dollar  home  and  also  for 

*  "In  round  numbers  ...  so  that  it  is  safe  to  say  that  more 
than  700,000  men  were  killed  in  the  war." — Professor  MacMaster: 
School  History  of  the  United  States,  p.  422.  See  Index:  "Non- 
combatants." 

t  See  quotation  from  Preface  of  Bloch's  Future  of  War  near 
close  of  present  chapter. 


I 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  57 

400  dollars'  worth  of  furniture  for  each  home — for  a  total 
population  of  90  million  people,  estimating  six  per  family 
in  each  home;  or, 

This  sum  is  equivalent  to  the  total  savings  of  two  million 
farmers  for  thirty  weary  years,  supposing  each  farmer  to  save 
$500  per  year; — and  sufficient  besides  to  establish  eighty  ag- 
ricultural colleges  and  ninety  teachers'  colleges,  each  of  these 
one  hundred  and  seventy  institutions  provided  with  four  mil- 
lion dollars'  worth  of  land,  buildings  and  equipment,  each  in- 
stitution also  provided  with  four  million  dollars  as  endow- 
ment fund  to  pay  running  expenses ; — with  a  balance  sufficient 
to  construct  a  double-track  railway  from  New  York  City  to 
San  Francisco  at  a  cost  of  more  than  $48,000  per  mile ;  or, 

This  sum  is  more  than  equivalent  to  the  total  wheat  crop 
worth  $1.00  per  bushel  growing  on  twenty-five  million  acres 
of  fine  land  averaging  twenty  bushels  per  acre  for  over  sixty- 
three  years;  or, 

This  sum  would  pay  all  the  salaries  of  twenty-five  thou- 
sand school  teachers  at  $625  per  year  from  the  birth  of  Christ 
to  the  year  1909,  and  leave  sufficient  to  establish  fifty  univer- 
sities, each  institution  provided  with  ten  million  dollars'  worth 
of  buildings  and  equipment  and  each  institution  provided 
also  wdth  a  ten-million  dollar  endowment  fund  for  running 
expenses;  or. 

This  sum  is  equal  to  the  total  savings  of  five  million  wage- 
earners,  each  saving  one  dollar  per  day,  three  hundred  days 
per  year  for  twenty-one  years. 

And  we  are  not  yet  through  with  our  Civil  War  expenses 
and  shall  not  be  for  a  long  time.  Professor  Albert  S.  Bolles 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  we  are  not  even  yet  through 
with  the  expenses  of  our  Eevolutionary  War  of  more  than 
one  hundred  years  ago.  Professor  Bolles  also  says  of  the 
Civil  War:* 

"A  hundred  years  are  likely  to  pass  before  the  account  books  for 
suppressing  the  Rebellion  will  be  closed." 

This  is  a  good  place  to  remind  the  reader  that,  of  course. 


*  Financial  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IIJ.,  p.  241. 


58  WAR— WHAT  FORf 

as  soon  as  the  soldiers  got  home  from  the  Civil  War  they  had 
to  go  to  work  to  help  create  the  wealth  to  pay  the  principal 
and  the  interest  on  the  war  bonds  held  by  the  bankers  and 
other  leading  citizens  who  were  too  shrewd  to  go  to  the  war 
themselves.  Professor  John  C.  Eidpath  wrote  thus  of  the 
war  bond-leech:* 

"To  him  (the  capitalist)  it  is  all  one  whether  this  world  blooms 
with  gardens,  ripens  with  oranges,  smiles  with  harvest  of  wheat,  or 
whether  it  is  trodden  into  mire  and  blood  under  the  raging  charges 
of  cavalry  and  the  explosions  of  horrid  shells;  that  is,  it  is  all  one 
to  him  if  his  coupons  are  promptly  paid  and  his  bond  is  extended." 

Now,  my  friend,  when  the  Honorable  Mr.  Noisy  from 
"Washington  or  your  legislature  or  elsewhere,  gets  you  and  your 
neighbors  out  in  the  woods  next  Thirtieth  of  May  or  Fourth 
of  July  and  proceeds  to  fill  the  forest  full  of  cheap  and  stupid 
noise  about  the  grandeur  and  glory  of  war,  you  should  prompt- 
ly treat  him  with  the  contempt  he  deserves.  You  should  also 
protect  the  young  people  of  your  family  and  community  from 
the  savage  and  dangerous  suggestions  made  by  many  speakers 
on  such  occasions — protect  them  by  having  the  "other  side" 
of  war  presented.  The  literature  of  pea ce-born-of- justice 
might  well  be  distributed  on  such  occasions. 

The  cash  cost  of  war  is  easily  made  evident  by  an  examina- 
tion of  our  annual  current  national  bill  for  militarism.  In- 
deed, the  annual  cash  cost  of  prize-fighter  statesmanship,  the 
annual  cost  of  developing  the  national  fist,  the  annual  cash 
cost  of  this  hypocritical  "preservation  of  peace"  by  preparing 
for  war,  needs  special  attention. 

The  combined  average  annual  expense  of  militarism,  that 
is,  of  the  Department  of  War  and  the  Department  of  the 
Navy  (the  Departments  of  Murder),  is,  for  the  United  States, 
as  follows: 

The  Army  and  the  Navy $200,000,000 

The  loss  of  producing  power,  the  worse  than  lost 
labor-power,  of  121,786  "picked"  men 
(83,286  in  the  Army  and  38,500  in  the 
Navy),  estimated  at  $600  each  per  year 73,071,600 

*  Arena,  Jan.,  1897. 


TE^  COST  OF  WAR.  59 

Interest  on  Public  Debt   (chiefly  an  expense  of 

militarism),  at  present 22,000,000 

Pensions  (admittedly  a  war  burden) 150,000,000 

Depreciation  of  forts,  arsenals,  ships,  weapons 
and  other  war  equipments  by  decay,  and 
from  the  necessary  discarding  of  "outgrown" 

murdering  machinery 5,000,000 

Total   $450,071,600 

Since  none  of  the  items  here  set  down  is  over-estimated 
and  since  several  of  them  are  much  under-estimated,  the 
grand  total  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  millions  must  be  re- 
garded as  an  extremely  conservative  estimate  of  the  annual 
cost  (in  times  of  peace)  of  keeping  the  national  fist  ready  for 
a  fight.* 

But  four  hundred  and  fifty  million  dollars  means  noth- 
ing sufficiently  definite  to  the  human  mind  until  it  is  con- 
sidered in  units  larger  than  single  dollars  and  smaller  than 
a  million  dollars.  The  sum  of  money  "necessary"  to  defray 
a  year's  expenses  of  a  poor  man's  son  or  daughter  in  a  high- 
grade  Middle  Western  college  or  university — may  be  taken 
as  a  convenient  unit  of  expense  in  considering  the  cash  cost 
of  war. 

Many  worthy  young  men  and  women  in  the  United 
States  pay  their  total  annual  expenses  in  high-grade  colleges 
and  universities  with  $250.  This  estimate  is  confirmed  by 
the  author's  personal  observation  and  by  a  letter  of  recent 
date  from  the  President  of  the  University  of  Iowa  to  the 
author. 

Our  annual  national  expense  of  militarism,  $450,- 
000,000,  m^ould  pay  the  annual  college  expenses  op 
1,800,000  young  men  and  women;  that  is,  of  nearly 
twelve  times  as  many  as  there  were  in  the  year  end- 
ing june  30,  1908,  in  the  five  hundred  and  seventy- 


*  I 


The  appropriations  for  the  Navy  alone  in  1910  are  $134,000,- 
000, — ^which  amount  is  just  ten  times  as  gi-eat  as  in  1886.  The 
New  York  World's  estimate  (editorial.  March,  1910)  is  $500,000,000 
aa  the  annual  cost  of  militarism  in  the  United  States. 


60  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

THREE  COLLEGES,  UNTYEESITIES  AND  TECHNOLOGICAL  SCHOOLS 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Five  per  cent,  interest  on  $450,000,000  for  six  minutes 
would  provide  $250  for  a  year's  college  expenses. 

Five  per  cent,  interest  on  one  year's  expense  of  militarism 
in  the  United  States  for  two  weeks  and  three  days  would  keep 
one  full  regiment  (1,000)  young  men  in  college  for  four 
years. 

Less  than  seven  per  cent,  interest  on  $450,000,000  for  one 
year  would  pay  one  year's  college  expenses  for  a  total  number 
of  young  men  and  women  equal  to  the  total  number  of  men 
in  both  the  Army  and  the  Navy,  officers,  privates  and  all. 

The  total  present-rate  cost  of  militarism  in  the  United 
States  for  two  and  a  half  years  is  $1,125,000,000.  Three  and 
a  half  per  cent,  interest  for  one  year  on  this  amount  would  be 
$39,375,000.  This  interest  would  pay  the  college  expenses  of 
the  total  number  of  young  men  and  women  in  all  the  573 
colleges,  universities  and  technological  schools  in  the  United 
States  for  the  one  year  ending  June  30,  1908  (that  is,  for 
150,187  students),  estimating  the  average  expense  at  $250 
for  the  year, — with  a  balance  remaining  of  almost  $2,000,000 
for  extra  expenses. 

According  to  Mr.  E.  J.  Dillon,*  "The  cost  of  each  of  the 
new  armored  battleships  planned  for  the  French  Navy  is 
estimated  at  more  than  $15,000,000." 

"Chairman  Tawney  of  the  House  Committee  on  Appropriations 
in  promising  to  fight  against  the  new  $18,000,000  battleships,  pledges 
himself  to  a  worthy  cause."-}- 

Six  and  two-thirds  per  cent,  interest  for  one  year  on  the 
cost  of  a  $15,000,000  battleship  would  provide  a  four-year 
college  education  for  the  1,000  marines  on  board. 

Six  per  cent,  interest  for  ten  hours  on  the  cost  of  a  $15,- 
000,000  battleship  would  pay  the  total  expenses  of  a  young 
man  or  woman  while  doing  the  four  years'  work  for  the  degree 
of  Bachelor  of  Arts  in  the  great  University  of  Iowa. 

*  The  Contemporary  Review,  August,   1909. 
tNew  York  World,  March  1,  1910.     See  also  The  World,  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1910. 


THE  COST  OF  \YAE.  61 

One  new-type  "dreadnought"  of  the  sort  now  being 
constructed  for  the  british  navy  ( which  is  to  be  prac- 
TICALLY DUPLICATED  BY  ALL  THE  OTHER  "gREAT  POWERS")  — 
ONE  OF  THESE  MONSTERS  WILL  COST  THREE  TIMES  AS  MUCH 
AS  ALL  OF  THE  NOBLE  BUILDINGS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHI- 
CAGO ERECTED  UP  TO  JUNE  30,  1905;  THAT  IS,  THREE  TIMES 
AS  MUCH  AS  ALL  THE  BEAUTIFUL  HALLS  CONSTRUCTED  DURING 
THE  university's  FIRST  THIRTEEN  YEARS  OF  UNPARALLELED 
ACTIVITY  IN  BUILDING. 

The  total  value  of  all  gifts  and  bequests  received  by  all  the 
higher  institutions  of  learning  in  the  United  States  in  the 
year  ending  June  30,  1908,  was  $14,820,955  ;  that  is,  $179,000 
less  than  the  cost  of  one  first  class  British  battleship.* 

If  there  are  forty-five  State  Universities  in  the  United 
States  with  a  total  of  6,750  teachers  (150  each)  receiving  an 
average  salary  of  $2,000,  their  combined  salaries  are  less 
than  the  cost  of  one  "Dreadnought." 

Five  per  ceni.  interest  on  the  cost  of  one  "Dreadnought" 
would  pay  the  combined  salaries  of  1,500  country  school  teach- 
ers at  $500  per  year;  or,  the  combined  salaries  of  750  country 
preachers  at  $1,000  per  year.  (The  average  salary  of  a  minis- 
ter in  Massachusetts  is  less  than  $800.) 

One  PER  CENT.  INTEREST  ON  ONE  "dREADNOUGHt"  WOULD 
PAY  THE  COMBINED  SALARIES  OP  THE  PRESIDENTS  OF  TWENTY- 
FIVE  OF  THE  GREATEST  UNIVERSITIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 
— AT  AN  AVERAGE  SALARY  OF  $6,000  PER  YEAR. 

It  is  to  be  remembered,  too,  that  a  battleship  is  out-classed, 
out  of  date  and  useless  within  fifteen  years  after  it  first  glides 
proudly  into  the  water.  But  education — the  systematic  devel- 
opment of  the  intellectual  and  social  powers  and  tastes,  the 
ripening  of  the  appetites  for  the  deeper,  higher,  finer  forms 
of  life,  charging  the  soul  with  knowledge  and  power  for  pleas- 
ure and  achievement — education,  which  is  "to  the  human  soul 
what  sculpture  is  to  a  block  of  marble," — education,  in  its 
glorious  influences,  is  immortal. 


•  See   Report   of   Commissioner   of   Education,    1908,   Vol.   II., 
617, 


62  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

Prize-fighter  statesmanship  sounds  loud  and  is,  therefore, 
great;  looks  attractive  and  is,  therefore,  splendid — in  the 
judgment  of  the  gullible.  Prize-fighter  statesmanship  rests 
upon  the  gullibility  of  ignorance. 

Of  special  importance  in  this  connection  is  the  item  of 
information,  furnished  in  a  personal  letter  to  the  author  of 
the  present  volume,  by  Dr.  William  T.  Harris,  who  was  for 
many  years  preceding  1906  our  National  Commissioner  of 
Education.  The  information  is :  That  of  all  the  children  in 
the  United  States  more  than  76  in  every  100  never  enter  even 
the  first  year  of  the  high  school  or  schools  of  the  high-school 
grade. 

Think  of  tliis  matter  in  still  another  way. 

The  total  cost  of  militarism  in  the  United  States  for  the 
year  1907-8  was  over  six  and  a  half  times  as  great  as  the  total 
income  ($66,790,924)  of  all  our  464  universities,  colleges 
and  technological  schools  from  all  sources  and  for  all  purposes 
for  that  same  year.* 

The  total  cost  of  militarism  in"  the  united  states 
for  the  fifteen  and  a  half  months  ending  june  30, 
1909,  was  greater  than  the  total  value  of  all  the 
books,  libraries,  lands,  grounds,  buildings^  furniture, 
scientific  apparatus,  machinery,  and  all  the  endow- 
ments, all  the  investments  and  all  "productive  funds" 
of  all  kinds  belonging  to  all  our  464  higher  institu- 
tions op  learning. 

There  are  in  the  United  States  464  colleges,  universitiee 
and  technological  schools  admitting  men  only  and  both  men 
and  women;  these  institutions  have  in  their  libraries  a  total 
of  12,636,656  volumes,  having  (according  to  our  Commis- 
sioner of  Education,  in  his  Report  for  the  year  ending  June  30, 
1908,  page  617)  a  total  value  of  $16,262,027— which  sum 
is  almost  equalled  by  the  cost  of  one  first-class  modem  mur- 
dering machine,  one  "Dreadnought." 

One  14-inch  cannon  and  equipment  costs  $170,000.    One 

*  See  Report  of  Commissioner  of  Education  for  1908,  Vol.  II., 
pp.  616-17.    These  464  admit  men  only,  or  both  men  and  women. 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  63 

target-practice  shot  costs  as  much  as  President  John  Adams's 
education  at  Harvard  University. 

"Whether  your  shell  hits  the  target  or  not, 
Your  cost  is  six  hundred  dollars  a  shot. 
You  thing  of  noise  and  flame  and  power, 
We  feed  you  a  hundred  barrels  of  flour 
Each  time  you  roar.    Your  flame  is  fed 
With  twenty  thousand  loaves  of  bread. 
Silence!      A  million  hungry  men 
Seek  bread  to  fill  their  mouths  again."* 

One  broadside  from  a  modern  "Dreadnought"  costs  almost 
$20,000. 

"The  fact  that  we  are  spending  during  this  fiscal  year  72  per 
cent,  of  our  aggregate  revenue  in  preparing  for  war  and  on  account 
of  past  wars  (pensions,  interest  and  principal  payments  on  war 
debts),  leaving  only  28  per  cent,  of  our  revenue  available  to  meet 
all  our  other  governmental  expenditures,  including  internal  im- 
provements, the  erection  of  public  buildings,  the  improvement  of 
rivers  and  harbors,  and  the  conservation  of  our  natural  resources,  is, 
to  my  mind,  appalling." — Congressman  J.  A.  Tawney.f 

"For  the  fiscal  year  1908-9  the  ordinary  income  of  the  United 
States  was  $604,000,000.  Of  that  sum  ...  70  per  cent,  was  spent 
for  past  wars  and  preparations  for  war.  .  .  ."$ 

This  same  "civilized"  savagery  is  rampant  everywhere. 

"The  great  countries  are  raising  enormous  revenues  ...  it  is 
equally  true  that  one  half  of  the  national  revenues  of  the  great  coun- 
tries in  Europe  is  being  spent  on  what  are,  after  all,  preparations 
to  kill  each  other." — Sir  Edward  Grey,  Foreign  Secretary,  T>,ritish 
Cabinet.! 

G.  de  Molinari  sums  up  thus :  || 

"Two-thirds  of  their  [European  nations']  combined  budgets  are 
devoted  to  the  service  of  this  debt  [war  debt],  and  to  the  main- 
tenance of  their  armed  forces  by  sea  and  land." 


*  P.  F.  McCarthy  in  the  New  York  World. 

f  Address  delivered  at  the  Peace  Banquet,  Chicago,  May  4,  1909 ; 
quoted  in  Unity,  June  3,  1909. 

tNew  York  World,  April  4,  1910.  See  also  New  York  Times 
editorial,  February  19,  1910. 

§  In  the  House  of  Commons,  March  29,  1909. 

II  The  Society  of  To-Morrow,  p.  30. 


64  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

The  New  York  World  speaks  boldly  thus  :* 

"The  preparations  for  war  bear  with  tremendous  weight  in  times 
of  peace.  .  .  .  Six  million  picked  men  in  the  flower  of  youth  are  in 
arms  in  Europe.  They  are  all  strong  men,  those  who  would  be  most 
useful  in  industry.  Great  Britain's  war-costs  [to-day,  in  times  of 
peace]  including  national  debt  service,  $444,000,000,  .  .  .  are  now 
nearly  six  times  as  great  as  her  elementary  school  costs.  An  even 
more  bitter  contest  over  a  greater  war  deficit  which  must  be  met 
by  increased  taxation  is  going  on  in  Germany.  .  .  .  Russia  runs 
behind  $200,000,000  a  year  in  her  national  finances  .  .  .  and  famine 
is  perpetual." 

All  the  great  governments  of  the  world  are  increasing  their 
murdering  equipment — to  be  ''prepared  for  war"; — that  is, 
prepared  to  provoke  and  dare.  The  annual  expenses  for  war 
in  England  have  doubled  within  the  last  ten  years,  and  still 
the  stupidity  grows.  England  has  52  battleships,  4  armored 
cruisers,  16  cruisers,  84  destroyers,  20  submarines,  and  to 
these  are  to  be  added  at  once  8  "Dreadnoughts"  costing  from 
$12,000,000  to  $15,000,000  each,  and  also  an  "appropriate" 
number  of  auxiliaries — armored  and  unarmored  cruisers,  tor- 
jiedo  boats,  etc.,  the  additions  to  the  present  naval  outfit  to 
(«ost  over  $300,000,000.  France  has  21  battleships  with  an 
'"appropriate"  number  of  auxiliaries,  and  is  building  8  more 
battleships  with  auxiliaries.  In  Germany  militarism  amounts 
to  even  greater  madness.  In  1872,  immediately  following  a 
great  war,  the  German  Empire  spent  $73,750,000  as  direct 
exppT>"e  of  militarism;  in  1898,  not  including  the  loss  in 
labor  power,  the  cost  of  the  departments  of  murder  was  $337,- 
500,000.  Increases  in  German  militarism  since  1898  have 
been  startling,  and  so  furious  is  the  spirit  of  militarism  and 
so  insanely  is  the  government  already  burdened  with  "war 
charges,"  that  in  the  year  1907-8  bonds  were  sold  to  the 
extent  of  $25,000,000,  as  part  of  a  special  effort  to  raise  an 
extra  fund  with  which  to  make  additions  to  her  murdering 
equipment. 

And  thus  it  is  with  all  the  other  "great"  nations. 

Although  Eussia  now  staggers  under  a  four-and-a-half 

•  Editorial,  May  4,  1909. 


THJE  COST  OF  WAR.  65 

billion  dollar  national  debt,  and  in  1908  was  forced  to  bor- 
row $75,000,000  to  meet  current  expenses  (and  did  her  best 
to  borrow  $400,000,000)  ;  although  millions  of  her  citizens 
face  starvation  and  hundreds  of  thousands  of  them  are  forced 
into  trampdom — yet  Eussian  statesmen  and  naval  experts 
are  "planning  a  billion-dollar  navy.* 

"Certain  facts  will  surely,  some  day,  burn  themselves  into  the 
consciousness  of  thinking  men.  .  .  .  The  extravagance  of  the  militar- 
ists will  bring  about  their  ruin.  They  cry  for  battleships  .  .  .  and 
Parliament  or  Congress  votes  them.  But  later  on  it  is  explained  that 
battleships  are  worthless  without  cruisers,  cruisers  are  worthless 
without  torpedo  boats,  torpedo  boats  are  worthless  without  tor- 
pedo destroyers,  all  these  are  worthless  without  colliers,  ammunition 
boats,  hospital  boats,  repair  boats;  and  these  all  together  are  worth- 
less without  deeper  harbors,  longer  docks,  more  spacious  navy  yards. 

"And  what  are  all  these  worth  without  officers  and  men,  upon 
whose  education  millions  of  dollars  have  been  lavished?  When  at 
last  the  navy  has  been  fairly  launched,  the  officials  of  the  army 
come  forward  and  demonstrate  that  a  navy,  after  all,  is  worthless 
unless  it  is  supported  by  a  colossal  land  force.  Thus  are  the  gov- 
ernments led  on,  step  by  step,  into  a  treacherous  morass,  in  which 
they  are  at  first  entangled,  and  finally  overwhelmed."! 

J.  H.  Eose,  in  his  Development  of  European  Nations, 
Vol.  II.,  p.  336,  surveying  the  chief  events  in  the  evolution  of 
Europe  since  1870,  writes: 

"The  individual  is  crushed  by  a  sense  of  helplessness  as  he  gazes 
at  the  armed  millions  on  all  sides  of  him.  Tho'  a  freeman  in 
the  constitutional  sense  of  the  term,  he  has  entered  into  a  state  of 
military  serfdom.  There  he  is  but  a  bondman,  toiling  to  add  his 
few  blocks  to  tlie  colossal  pyramid  of  war.  .  .  .  From  that  life  there 
can  come  no  song  .  .  .  some  malignant  Fury  masquerading  in  the 
garb  of  Peace." 

Nearly  everywhere  war  debts  are  piled  like  mountains 
upon  the  backs  of  the  people.  Twenty-three  years  ago  (1887) 
Professor  H.  C.  Adams  (University  of  Michigan,  Department 


*  Eeference  for  most  of  the  phrasing  of  this  paragraph  has  been 
lost. 

f  C.  E.  Jefferson,  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  quoted  in  Public 
Opinion  (address?),  March  26,  1909. 


66  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

of  Finance)   sounded  the  alarm  and  stated  the  case  strik- 


ingly :* 

"The  civilized  governments  o^  the  present  day  are  resting  under 
a  burden  of  indebtedness  computed  at  $27,000,000,000,  This  sum, 
which  does  not  include  local  obligations  of  any  sort,  constitutes  a 
mortgage  of  $722  [now  about  $950]  upon  each  square  mile  of  terri' 
tory  over  which  the  burdened  governments  extend  their  jurisdiction, 
and  shows  a  per  capita  indebtedness  of  $23  upon  their  subjects. 
The  total  amount  of  national  obligations  is  equal  to  seven  times 
the  aggregate  annual  revenue  of  the  indebted  states.  At  the  liberal 
estimate  of  $1.50  per  day,  the  payment  of  the  accruing  interest,  com- 
puted at  five  per  cent.,  would  demand  the  continuous  labor  of  three 
million  men.  .  .  .  Previous  to  the  present  [nineteenth]  century,  Eng- 
land and  Holland  were  the  only  nations  that  had  learned  by  ex- 
perience the  weight  of  national  obligations;  but  at  the  present  time 
the  phenomenon  of  public  debts  is  almost  universal.  .  .  . 

"It  is  all  the  more  difficult  to  understand  this  new  method  of 
financiering,  because  it  has  made  its  appearance  while  wealth  has 
been  rapidly  increasing.  The  world  is  daily  growing  richer  as 
nature  yields  her  forces  with  ever  increasing  willingness  to  serve 
the  purposes  of  men;  yet,  notwithstanding  increased  opulence,  the 
governments  of  the  world  are  plunging  headlong  into  debt." 

The  reader  should  keep  in  mind  that  the  burdens  of  debt 
discussed  here  by  Dr.  Adams  are  almost  wholly  war  debts,  and 
that  they  have,  since  1887,  increased  heavily — to  about  $35,- 
000,000,000^  almost  three  times  the  total  amount  of  cash  in 
the  entire  world. 

"Reflect  for  an  hour  upon  the  appalling  aggregate,"  wrote  Pro- 
fessor Ridpath  (De  Pauw  University )  ,f  "consider  the  pressure  of 
this  intolerable  incubus;  try  to  estimate  the  horror  of  this  hell; 
weigh  the  woe  and  anguish  of  them  who  rest  under  it,  and  then — 
despair   and   die. 

"Twenty  thousand  millions  of  dollars;  statesmen,  philanthro- 
pists, preachers,  journalists,  mouthpieces  of  civilization,  one  and  all 
of  you,  how  do  you  like  the  exhibit?  Does  it  not  suffice?  Who  is 
going  to  pay  the  account?  The  people.  Who,  without  lifting  a 
hand  or  turning  in  their  downy  beds,  will  gather  this  infamous 
harvest  during  all  of  the  twentieth  century?     Plutocracy, 

"It  has  been  the  immemorial  policy  of  the  Money  Power  to 
foment  wars  among  the  nations;  to  edge  on  the  conflict  until  both 
parties  pass  under  the  impending  bankruptcy;  to  buy  up  the  pro- 

*  Public  Debts,  pp.  3,  4,  6. 
f  Arena,  January,   1898. 


1 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  67 

digious  debt  of  both  with  a  pail  full  of  gold;  to  raise  the  debt  to 
par;  to  invent  patriotic  proclamations  for  preserving  the  National 
Honor;  and  finally  to  hire  the  presses  and  pulpits  of  two  genera- 
tions to  glorify  a  crime." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  put  the  matter  thus : 

"Most  of  the  debts  of  Europe  represent  condensed  drops  of 
blood." 

Reflect  again : 

"In  one  short  eighteen  months  the  [British]  war  party  now  sitting 
on  our  necks  has  dissipated  [in  the  Boer  War]  more  money  than 
the  working  class  managed  to  accumulate  out  of  their  wages  dur- 
ing the  whole  reign  of  the  late  Queen  Victoria."  (That  is,  from 
1837  to  1901.)  "The  patient  savings  of  two  generations  were  [in 
the  Boer  War]   dissipated  at  one  cruel  swoop."* 

The  following  table  shows  the  proportion  in  which  the 
"great"  capitalist  governments  spend  the  outraged  people's 
substance  for  education  and  for  militarism — in  prize-fighter 
statesmanship  :t 

Education.  Militarism. 

England $1.00  $4.25 

France 1.00  4.80 

Germany  1.00  2.57 

Austria 1.00  4.50 

United  States 1.00  1.25 

Denmark 1.00  3.66 

Greece 1.00  5.00 

Sweden 1.00  2.25 

Italy 1.00  9.00 

Belgium 1.00  2.00 

Switzerland   1.00  .54 

Russia   1.00  12.00 

An  American  educator  has  written  thus  of  the  civilized 


*  See  The  Investor's  Review,  London,  April,  1901,  and  'National 
Review,  London,  June,  1903,  respectively;  quoted  by  Walter  Walsh: 
Moral  Damage  of  War,  pp.  416-17. 

fSee  Bloch's  Future  of  War,  pp.  137-39;  recent  Statesman's 
Year-Boohs,  "national  expense"  tables;  also  Lff-hor  Leader  (London), 
Nov.  1,  1907, 


68  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

savagery  to  be  seen  in  these  worse  than  wasted  treasures  of 
the  people  :* 

"The  national  debts  of  Europe  represent  a  series  of  colossal 
crimes  against  the  people.  They  were  incurred  in  the  prosecution  of 
unnecessary  wars,  and  for  the  support  of  unnecessary  standing 
armies.  With  relation  to  these  debts  the  people  are  divided  into 
two  classes — one  class  oivns  them  and  the  other  pays  the  interest 
on  them.  This  relation  comprehends  the  future  generations  in  per- 
petuity. Every  child  born  in  Europe  inherits  either  an  estate  in 
these  debts  or  an  obligation  to  pay  interest  upon  them.  Thus 
tlie  fruits  of  a  great  crime  have  been  transmitted  into  a  vested  right 
in  one  class  of  people,  or  a  vested  wrong  in  another  class. 

"If  the  European  standing  armies  and  navies  had  not  been  raised 
and  kept  up,  and  if  the  revenue  devoted  to  their  support  had  been 
expended  for  schools,  there  would  not  now  be  an  uneducated  person 
in  Europe.  If  these  standing  armies  and  navies  were  now  dis- 
banded, and  the  revenue  at  present  expended  for  their  support 
diverted  to  the  support  of  schools,  and  so  applied  for  half  a  century, 
thei'e  would  not  be,  at  the  end  of  that  period,  an  illiterate  person  in 
Europe." 

The  following  paragraph  by  Helmuth  v.  Gerlach  is  worthy 
of  the  workingman's  special  consideration  rf  ; 

"Of  all  the  German  political  parties  one,  viz.,  the  Social  Demo- 
cratic [the  Socialist]  Party,  has  always  been  a  consistent  opponent 
of  militarism.  It  looks  upon  militarism  as  the  strongest  support 
of  the  capitalistic  regime,  and  therefore  attacks  it  theoretically  and 
actually  with  equal  vigor.  Its  watchword  is:  'No  men  and  no 
money.'  "| 

But  everywhere  these  senseless  burdens  grow  more  vast. 
The  end  is  not  yet.  The  insanity  of  vanity  and  greed  increases 
alarmingly — everywhere;  but  worst  of  all,  the  people  are  un- 
warned by  the  all-powerful  capitalist  press.  Fortunately  there 
are  exceptions;  for  example,  the  New  York  World.  Boldly 
and  powerfully  the  World  has  recently  warned  the  people. 
On  July  20,  1908,  the  World  said  editorially : 

"No  more  effective  peace  sermon  could  be  preached  than  the  esti- 
mate of  General  Blume,  published  by  the  German  General  Staff,  as 
to  the  probable  cost  of  a  modern  European  war.     Putting  the  num^ 

*Kim:  Mind  and  Hand,  pp.  290-92.    Italics  mine.    G.  R.  K. 

t  The  International,  July,  1908. 

J  See  Index:  "Socialist  Partv  and  War." 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  69 

ber  of  troops  that  Germany  could  call  to  arms  at  4,759,000,  the 
cost  to  Germany,  he  says,  of  a  war  with  another  European  power 
would  be  [direct  expenses]  $1,500,000,000  a  year  as  long  as  the 
war  lasted.  On  the  basis  of  the  war  between  Russia  and  Japan, 
in  which  the  Japanese  lost  in  killed  and  wounded  20  per  cent,  of 
their  armies,  Germany  would  lose  in  the  same  length  of  time  ap- 
proximately 900,000  men.   .  .  . 

"The  account  in  blood  and  money  would  be  duplicated  if  Germany 
were  engaged  with  only  one  power.  If  three  or  four  or  even  more 
powers  were  involved,  as  seems  probable  in  the  light  of  existing 
alliances,  Europe  would  be  'bled  white'  and  plunged  in  lasting 
disaster. 

''This  is  the  other  side  of  the  question  tohich  public  men  who  talk 
glibly  about  the  war  seek  to  have  the  people  forget.  They  do  not  dwell 
on  the  immense  debt  of  victorious  Japan,  and  its  practical  impover- 
ishment, nor  do  they  recall  to  attention  the  appalling  waste  of  Rus- 
sia's resources,  its  rickety  finances,  its  shrunken  commerce  and  the 
tens  of  millions  of  starving  subjects  of  the  Czar.  It  will  be  many 
years  before  the  public  credit  of  Great  Britain,  proud  of  the  national 
wealth,  recovers  from  the  setback  caused  by  the  Boer  War  and  the 
government  is  able  to  face  much-needed  reforms  at  home  without 
misgivings  about  its  income,"* 

Statesmanship ! 

"Defense  of  our  foreign  commerce"  is  one  of  the  heaviest 
arguments  offered  by  capitalist  statesmen  in  defense  of  the 
vast  cost  of  militarism — with  insufferable  ignorance  neglect- 
ing the  fact  that  the  total  annual  cost  of  militarism  for  nine- 
teen European  countries  and  the  United  States  and  Japan 
(eight  billion  dollars)  is  equal  to  more  than  66  per  cent,  of 
the  total  annual  export  trade  of  all  the  nations  of  all  the 
world.f 

Statesmanship ! 

"Great"  men  guiding  the  "Ship  of  State" — to  the  rocks ! 

Thus  the  nations  stagger  round  and  round  in  a  stupid 
circle,  the  statesmen  planning  international  wholesale  butcher- 
ings,  the  working  class  blinded  with  blood  and  sweat  and 
tears.     Greater    armies,    greater    navies, — then  still  greater 


*  Italics  mine.    G.  R.  K. 

I  "The  export  trade  of  all  nations  combined  amounts  to  less  than 
$12,000,000,000  per  annum."  Harold  Bolce:  The  New  International- 
ism, p.  87. 


70  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

armies  and  still  greater  navies, — and  then  still  more  powerful 
armies  and  navies :  then  impossible  taxation,  intolerable  bur- 
dens: then  bankruptcy: — then  wrath,  rebellion  and  revolu- 
tion,— this  constitutes  the  near-future  program  for  at  least 
eight  "great"  nations  of  the  world,  if  they  continue,  as  at 
present,  to  surrender  to  the  vanity  of  kings,  tsars,  presidents, 
mikados,  and  give  free  rein  to  the  profit-lusting  capitalist 
masters  of  the  world.  Militarism  is  the  international  political 
whirlpool.  The  maelstrom  opens — the  chasm  yawns,  spreads 
wide  its  huge  jaws  for  the  capitalist  ship  of  state. 

Be  not  deceived: 

It  is  sincere,  well-founded  fear  of  bankruptcy  (and 

IT  IS  NOT  conscience)  THAT  CHIEFLY  INDUCES  MANY  CAPI- 
TALIST STATESMEN  TO  CO-OPERATE,  AT  PRESENT,  SO  LOUDLY 
(and  piously)   with  INTERNATIONAL  PEACE  SOCIETIES. 

Bankruptcy,  rebellion,  revolution — 

It  is  time  for  Caesar  to  be  pious  and  whine  for  "a  limita- 
tion on  armaments." 

The  STARVED  SLAVE  BEGINS  TO  ASK  QUESTIONS  OF  THE 
FAT  STATESMAN. 

The  ship  of  state  begins  to  rock  in  the  growing  storm. 
Statesmanship ! 

Industrial  democracy  stands  by  to  seize  its  opportunity. 
The  producers  will  be  the  successors  to  plutocracy. 
Despotism  is  digging  its  own  grave. 

Anent  this  matter  a  truly  great  authority.  Professor  J.  E. 
Thorold  Eogers,  says  :* 

"Many  parts  of  the  earth  were  once  occupied  by  rich  and  indus- 
irious  peoples  wliich  are  now  wholly  waste.  Such  a  decline  may 
come  from  the  effects  of  a  destructive  conquest,  of  long  and  ruinous 
wars.  But  in  almost  all  cases,  the  rum  of  a  race  is  the  fault  of  its 
government.  .  .  .  Nations  will  not  ruin  themselves,  said  Adam  Smith, 
but  governments  may  ruin  them.  ...  I  will  not  say  that  spectacles  of 
this  kind  will  never  be  seen  again,  of  nations  perishing  by  the  vices 
of  those  who  administer  their  affairs.  .  .  .  Governments  may  borrow 
for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  a  war,  or  of  defending  themselves 
against  aggression.    The  government  generally  asserts  that  it  is  the 

*  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  pp.  393-94.  Italics  mine. 
G.  R.  K. 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  71 

latter  motive  which  influences  it,  when  every  one  sees  it  is  the  former. 
Whether  their  subjects  or  citizens  see  it  or  not,  governments  gen- 
erally, almost  invariably,  avow  it  so  persistently  or  savagely  that 
their  subjects  are  brought  to  agree  with  them." 

What  is  the  significance  of  the  present  cost  of  militarism 
for  the  world  annually  ?  No  human  mind  can  discern  or  take 
in  the  vast  meaning  of  the  blood-and-profit-lust  politics  that 
holds  and  damns  the  world  to-day. 

$8,000,000,000— Eight  Billion  Dollars! 

Tossed  to  Mars,  the  red-stained  god  of  war ! 

While  the  human  race  festers  in  ignorance! 

$8,000,000,000^to  blind  and  blindfold  the  multitude  with 
their  own  blood  and  rags  while  their  lives  are  robbed  and 
ravaged  by  the  eminent  and  respectable  profit-glutton  parasites 
of  mankind. 

$8,000,000,000 — this  huge  sum  baffles  comprehension. 
Pronounce  it :  "Eight  Billion  Dollars."  That  sum  embarrasses 
not  only  the  mind,  but  the  lips  and  the  tongue. 

Think  that  sum  for  a  moment. 

Now  consider  the  fact  that  in  twenty-one  countries,  namely, 
those  of  Europe  and  also  Japan  and  the  United  States,  mili- 
tarism costs  more  than  eight  billion  dollars — every  twelve 
months. 

One  item  alone  in  this  cost  of  militarism  is  almost 
FOUR  BILLION  DOLLARS  PER  YEAR.  That  single  item  is  the 
wealth  that  is  not  produced,  but  could  be  produced  if  the  six 
million  five  hundred  thousand  strong,  carefully  selected  young 
men  in  the  standing  armies  of  tloese  twenty-one  countries 
were  engaged  in  producing  wealth  with  modern  tools,  modern 
machinery,  and  modem  knowledge  of  production.  It  is  to  be 
noted  that  in  this  estimate  all  of  South  America,  China  and 
other  large  parts  of  the  world  are  not  included. 

Eight  Billion  Dollars— $8,000,000,000. 

Men  and  women  shudder  when  the  telegraph  flashes  over  ■ 
the  world  that  a  city  has  suffered  a  ten-million  or  a  twenty- 
million  dollar  fire.     Let  us  try  to  get  an  idea  of  the  cost  of 
wealth-wasting  militarism  by  expressing  it  in  terms  of  loss 
by  the,  deyoi^rer,  fire. . 


73  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

$8,000,000,000— Eight  Billion  Dollars. 

This  sum,  this  exj^ense  of  bull-dog-and-tiger  statesmanship, 
of  militarism,  in  twenty-one  "highly  civilized"  countries — 
for  twelve  months  in  times  of  peace — is  equivalent  to  a  con- 
tinuous loss  by  fire,  throughout  the  year,  day  and  night,  of 
more  than  $913,000  an  hour;  or,  about  $15,219  per  minute. 

This  sum,  worse  than  wasted  annually  to  be  "prepared" — 
to  slaughter — is  equal  to  a  loss  by  fire,  burning  day  and  night 
throughout  the  year,  devouring  seven  homes  per  minute,  each 
home  worth  $1,700  and  each  home  containing  also  $475  worth 
of  furniture. 

The  average  working  class  family  contains  about  six  mem- 
bers— two  parents  and  four  children ;  and  the  average  working 
class  family  would  consider  itself  in  good  fortune  to  have  a 
home  worth  $1,700  and  provided  with  $475  worth  of  furni- 
ture.    Seven  such  homes  would  contain  forty-two  members. 

Now  imagine  an  unbroken  stream  of  people — men,  women, 
and  little  children,  frightened,  jaale,  shuddering,  the  children 
screaming,  the  women  in  tears — fleeing  past  you  through  the 
street,  driven  by  fire  from  their  ruined  homes,  forty-two 
people  rushing  by  you  every  minute,  day  and  night,  year  after 
year,  on  and  on,  an  endless  stream  of  humbled  and  saddened 
souls,  plunged  in  misery,  their  happiness  swallowed  by  pitiless 
fire ;  or. 

Imagine  a  fire  rushing  faster  than  a  strong  man  at  a  brisk 
walk — imagine  a  fire  rushing  forward  more  than  eight  miles 
an  hour,  consuming  fifty  such  homes  per  mile,  making  each 
year  thirty-six  round  trips,  burning  going  and  coming,  from 
New  York  City  to  St.  Louis,  Missouri ;  or  one  such  round  trip 
every  ten  days — imagine  these  losses,  these  annual  losses — and 
you  will  perhaps  have  some  idea  of  what  it  costs  these  twenty- 
one  countries  to  brag  and  strut  and  piously  prepare  to  settle 
their  disputes  as  tigers  settle  theirs — by  force. 

It  is  as  if  the  fiends  of  hell  were  crazed  and  loose  on  the 
earth. 

And  this  is  statesmanship! 

Eight  billion  dollars  virtually  tossed  into  the  flames  by 
the  well-fed  kings,  emperors,  tsars,  presidents,  and  champagne- 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  73 

guzzlers  in  the  national  legislatures  of  twenty-one  "highly 
civilized"  countries — while  tens  of  millions  of  the  toilers  in 
these  same  countries  shiver  and  starve,  meanly  clothed,  meanly 
housed,  meanly  fed,  their  children  growing  up  in  the  dull 
ignorance  that  renders  them  the  easy  tools  and  fools  for  the 
firing  line. 

One  year's  cost  of  militarism  in  these  twenty-one  countries 
($8,000,000,000)  would  keep  thirty-two  million  students  in 
college  for  one  year — allowing  $250  each. 

The  cost  of  militarism  in  these  twenty-one  countries  for 
less  than  nine  hours  and  a  half  would  pay  all  the  expenses  of 
4,500  students  in  Harvard  University  for  four  years,  allowing 
each  student  $500  per  year. 

Six  per  cent,  interest  on  this  $8,000,000,000  for  one 
year  would  provide  a  four-year  college  education  for 
480,000  young  men  and  women,  allowing  each  student 

$250  PER  YEAR. 

$8,000,0000,000  annually — in  time  of  peace! 

Clap  your  hands  in  stupid  glee,  0,  blind  devotees  of  the 
blood  god  Mars! 

Celebrate ! 

Scream  "Hurrah !  Hurrah  !" — in  idiotic  glad  madness. 

Yell,  fool,  yell :  "Hurrah  for  hell !" 

For  war ! 

War!  War!  War! 

It  is  great ! 

Isn't  it? 

It  must  be  great,  for  "great  men"  say  it  is  so. 

"Great  men"  never  deceive  humble,  common  working  men. 
Never.    Of  course  not. 

When  "great  men"  call:  "Eally  to  the  flag,  boys!"  will 
my  toiling  brothers  become  again  the  fools  and  tools  for  such 
as  they  who  in  Parliaments  and  Congresses  vote  for  this  red- 
dripping  stupidity? 

$8,000,000,000  every  twelve  months  on  war  and  prepara- 
tions for  war — and  yet  not  a  single  silh-hatted  snob  sleeps  in 
the  dingy  harraclts,  or  eats  the  cheap  "griib"  fed  to  the  pri- 
vates,  or   submits   to   humiliating   insults   from   "superior" 


74  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

officers,  or  spills  his  hlood  on  the  firing  line — not  one  any- 
where in  all  the  world. 

$8,000,000,000 — the  annual  cost  of  lust — war  lust. 

The  annual  cost  of  jungle  statesmanship. 

The  cost  the  WOEKING  class  pay  for  being  meek, 

DOCILE,  obedient READY  TO  SLAUGHTER  THEMSELVES,  READY 

TO   BUTCHER  THEIR  BROTHERS  OF   THE  WOEKING  CLASS. 

$8,000,000,000,  the  price  the  working  class  pay  for  being 
prejudiced,  ignorant,  unwilling  to  read; — and  for  cringing, 
for  neglecting  to  place  the  nx)rhing  class  in  the  legislatures  of 
the  world. 

$8,000,000,000 — this  sum  proves  the  moral  bankruptcy, 
proves  the  colossal  savagery — of  capitalists  who  want  war, 
and  proves  also  the  intellectual  and  moral  bankruptcy,  the 
brainless  incapacity  and  unspeakable  villainy  of  the  gilt-edged 
crooks  called  statesmen  who  are  always  ready  to  declare  wars 
and  who  perpetually  bleed  society  by  thus  "preparing  for  wars" 
in  which  they  themselves,  like  the  "business  men/'  are  too 
proud  and  cunning  to  fight  on  the  firing  line. 

This  sum  also  shows  that  the  working  class,  stripped  and 
dulled  to  supply  this  annual  sum,  ignorantly  consenting  to  and 
blindly  hurrahing  for  their  own  destruction,  are  in  the  condi- 
tion of  hypnotized  children — almost  utterly  helpless,  their 
eyes  blinded  with  tears,  their  ears  stopped  with  blood,  their 
souls  numb  and  dumb  in  a  living  death. 

This  sum — all  this  cash  cost — is,  in  its  last  analysis,  slyly 
suhtraoied  from  tjte  lives  of  the  producing  class,  the  working 
class — sucked  from  the  veins  of  the  hunible  multitude  of 
toilers,  and  the  workers  are  so  meek  and  weak  and  bloodless 
and  stunned  and  stunted — so  constantly  in  a  dull,  prideless 
stupor — that  they  are  unable  to  stand  erect  in  holy  indigna- 
tion, seize  the  powers  of  government  and  sweep  this  hell's 
nightmare  from  the  world. 

War  devours  the  welfare  of  the  workers. 

The  capitalist  class  dare  not  place  all  tJie  fads  franJcly 
before  the  working  class.    Everywhere  it  is:  "Hush!  Hush!.. 
The  working  class  must  not  study  the  burdens  of  wa,r.'' 


THE  COST  OF  WAR.  75 

The  workers?  "They  must  not  thinl:  They  must  not 
think.    They  must  obey." 

That  is  the  word  for  the  working  class : 

Obey. 

A  very  eminent  authority  on  war*  says : 

"Only  once  in  recent  history  do  I  remember  any  attempt  on  the 
part  of  a  European  government  to  calculate  the  economic  conse- 
quences of  war  under  modern  conditions.  It  was  when  M.  Burdeau 
was  in  the  French  Ministry.  He  appointed  a  committee  of  econo- 
mists for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  how  the  social  organism  would 
continue  to  function  in  a  time  of  war,  how  from  day  to  day  their 
bread  would  be  given  to  the  French  population.  But  no  sooner 
had  he  begun  his  investigation  than  a  strong  objectioii  iras  raised 
by  the  military  authorities,  and  out  of  deference  to  their  protest 
the  inquiry  was  indefinitely  postponed.  Hence  we  are  going  forward 
blindfold." 

A  real  statesman,  Senator  Charles  Sumner,  has  said:! 

"All  history  is  a  vain  word,  and  all  experience  is  at  fault,  if  large 
war  preparations  .  .  .  have  not  been  constant  provocatives  of  war. 
Pretended  protectors  against  war,  they  have  been  the  real  instigators 
of  war.  They  have  excited  the  evil  against  which  they  were  to 
guard.  The  habit  of  wearing  arms  in  private  life  exercised  a  kindred 
influence.  .  .  .  The  Standing  Army  is  to  the  nation  what  the 
sword  was  to  the  modern  gentleman,  the  stiletto  to  the  Italian,  the 
knife  to  the  Spaniard,  the  pistol  to  our  slavemaster, — furnishing, 
liive  these,  the  means  of  death;  and  its  possessor  is  not  slow  to  use 
it." 

"Were  half  the  power  that  fills  the  world  with  terror, 
Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camps  and  courts, 

Given  to  redeem  the  world  from  error. 

There  would  be  no  need  of  arsenals  and  forts."$ 

"Workers  of  the  world,  unite!"     Eouse.     Think.     Rise. 
Hurl  this  curse  of  war  from  the  world. 
On  the  battlefield  of  industry  unite. 
On  the  battlefield  of  politics  unite. 
Seize  the  powers  of  government. 
Use  these  powers  of  government — in  self-defense. 


*Bloch:    The    Future    of    War,    Preface,    p.    XLVIII.      Italics 
mine.     G.  R.  K. 

■\  Addresses  on  War,  p.  292. 

t Henry  W.  Longfellow:    "The  Arsenal  at  Springfield." 


76  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Great  working  class  multitude,  great  meek  majority! 
Stand  erect  in  your  vast  class  might  and  become — authority. 

The  working  class  must  themselves  defend  the  working 
class. 

"Do  not  expect  your  chains  to  forge  themselves  into  the 
key  of  freedom." 

Begin. 

Begin  now. 

Begin  a  campaign  to  capture  the  brain  of  your  working 
class  neighbor  for  the  grand  new  Movement  for  the  Freedom 
of  the  Working  Class. 

Do  something. 

Be  Somebody. 

Help  conquer  in  our  day. 

War  costs. 

Meekness  costs — costs  the  working  class  its  labor,  its  blood 
and  tears,  its  happiness — its  Life. 

Let  us  defend  ourselves — as  a  class. 


CHAPTER  FIVE. 
Hell. 

SECTION  one:  modern  murdering  machinery. 

Ah,  so  you  are  on  your  way  to  the  recruiting  station,  arc 
you?  Well,  there  will  be  jDlenty  of  time  to  enlist  to-morrow, 
and  there  are  also  seven  days  of  next  week  that  have  not  been 
touched  yet.  Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to  sign  your  name.  Wait 
a  little — wait  at  least  till  you  have  read  the  first  two  sections 
of  this  chapter. 

Perhaps  you  are  feverish. 

Cool  off  before  you  enlist.* 

Go  back  to  the  60's  and  read  three  or  four  lines  of  Ameri- 
can Civil  War  history  before  you  enlist.  Here  they  are  in  the 
words  of  a  distinguished  authority,  A,  S.  Bolles:t 

"With  the  swift  cooling  of  the  war  fever  bounties  became  nec- 
essary to  stimulate  enlistment.  ...  In  1861  the  highways  were 
filled  with  volunteers  eagerly  rushing  to  the  front;  but  in  1865  they 
went  with  much  slower  pace  and  with  a  much  better  conception  of 
the  hazardous  game  of  war." 

The  hateful  method  called  drafting  had  to  be  vigorously 
applied  by  the  Federal  Government  after  the  young  men 
found  out  what  v/ar  really  meant — for  them. 

And  Professor  John  B.  McMaster  (University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania) makes  it  clear  that  even  the  hot  blood  of  the  young 
men  of  the  South  also  cooled  down  to  an  extremely  rational 
temperature  as  the  slaughter  proceeded.     He  says  4 

"Quite  as  desperate  were  the  shifts  to  which  the  South  was  put 
for  soldiers.  At  first  every  young  man  was  eager  to  rush  to  the 
front.  But  as  time  passed  ...  it  became  necessary  to  force  men 
into  the  ranks,  to  'conscript'  them.  .  .  ." 


*  See  Index:    "Desertion,"  also  "Suicide,  startling  increase  of,  in 
American  Army." 

■f  Financial  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  III.,  p.  245. 
t  School  History  of  the  United  States,  p.  423. 


78  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

In  this  connection  read  the  words  of  a  great  Union  soldier. 

General  Sherman : 

"I  confess  without  shame  that  I  am  tired  and  sick  of  the  war. 
Its  glory  is  all  moonshine.  Even  success  the  most  brilliant  is  over 
dead  and  mangled  bodies,  the  anguish  and  lamentations  of  distant 
families  appealing  to  me  for  missing  sons,  husbands  and  fathers. 
It  is  only  those  who  have  not  heard  a  shot  nor  heard  the  shrieks 
and  groans  of  the  wounded  and  lacerated  that  cry  aloud  for  more 
blood,  more  vengeance,  more  desolation."* 

It  is  especially  important  that  before  you  enlist  you  should 
get  a  distinct  idea  of  the  horrible  deadliness  of  modern  butch- 
ering machinery.  Since  Gene?'al  Sherman  made  the  com- 
ment just  quoted  on  the  American  Civil  War  the  killing  ma- 
chinery has  been  improved  astonishingly. 

In  the  recent  Russian- Japanese  war  individual 
soldiers,  as  sh0v7n  by  actual  count  and  official  report, 
received  as  many  as  seventy  bullet  wounds, — they 
were  riddled — torn  to  pieces — with  lead  and  steel 
fired  from  modern  slaughtering  machines.  if  you 
will  read  all  of  the  present  and  the  following  sec- 
tions you  will  no  longer  wonder  why  the  "very  best 

people"'  do  not  ENLIST  FOR  ACTUAL  SERVICE — AT  THE  FRONT. 

I  would  suggest  and  even  urge,  brothers,  that,  before  you 
enlist,  you  visit  your  dear  pastor  and  read  with  him  all  of 
the  present  section  on  "Hell,"  and  then  ask  him  whether  he 
and  his  sons  will  probably  enlist  for  actual  firing-line-sword- 
rifle-and-bayonet  service.  Also  have  a  heart-to-heart  talk 
with  your  loving  friend,  your  banker,  who  takes  care  of  your 
money  for  you.  Read  these  paragraphs  to  him  and  ask  him 
whether  he  is  eager  to  rush  to  the  front  and  whether  he  is 
urging  his  sons  and  sons-in-law  to  be  ready  to  rush  with  him 
to  the  front  for  real  fighting  into  "the  grasp  of  death,"  into 
"the  hurricane's  fiery  breath,"  where  sabres  flash,  bullets  hiss, 
and  cannon  roar. 

By  the  way,  do  you  deposit  much  money  in  the  bank? 
Do  you  often  visit  socially  at  the  banker's  home?    Did  you 


*  Quoted  in  Mead's  Patriotism  and  the  New  Internationalism,  pp. 
18-19. 


nELL.  'J'9 

ever  see  a  cheap,  fifteen-dollar-a-month  soldier  courting  the 
banker's  or  the  big  manufacturer's  daughter  ? 

Well,  hardly. 

Wake  up,  my  working  class  brother. 

These  leading  citizens  strut  before  you  and  fill  you  full  of 
fierce  and  splendid  talk  about  becoming  "brave  boys  behind 
the  gun";  but  at  the  same  time  they  despise  you  socially. 
Don't  foolishly  get  behind  the  gun  or  in  front  of  the  gun — 
not  at  least  till  you  have  studied  the  gun. 

A  high-grade  modern  rifle  can  be  fired  twenty-five  times 
per  minute.  This  gun  will  pierce  60  pine  boards  each  one 
inch  thick.  It  will  kill  a  man  at  a  distance  of  four  miles.  A 
bullet  with  sufficient  force  to  pierce  a  one-inch  pine  board  will 
kill  a  man  or  a  horse.  Actual  tests  show  that  the  best  modern 
rifles  will  force  a  bullet  through  a  target  made  of  the  follow- 
ing combination : — fifteen  folds  of  cow-hide,  sixteen  one-inch 
pine  boards,  and  one  and  four-fifths  inches  of  hard  beech 
wood.  Bullets  fired  from  rifles  used  in  the  American  Civil 
War  would  do  little  damage  after  passing  into  or  through  the 
bodies  of  soldiers  in  the  front  ranks.  Men  in  the  second  and 
.third  ranks  felt  much  protected  by  the  bodies  of  men  in 
front  of  them.  All  is  different  now.  The  best  modern, 
rifles  will  force  a  bullet  through  five  horses  at  27  yards;  four 
horses  at  220  yards;  two  horses  at  1,100  yards.  Even  as 
recently  as  the  war  of  1870-71  and  the  war  of  1877-78,  bullets 
from  rifles  then  used  in  the  German  army  would  not  pierce 
a  human  skull  at  a  distance  of  1,760  yards,  one  mile;  but 
with  the  best  modern  rifles  bullets  can  be  fired  through  the 
thick  bones  of  an  ox  at  a  range  of  3,850  yards,  about  two  and 
one-fifth  miles.  Experiments  demonstrate  that  the  best 
modern  rifles  will  force  a  bullet  through  three  human  bodies 
at  a  range  of  3,900  feet;  and  through  five  human  bodies  at 
1,200  feet.  In  the  American  Civil  War  bullets  for  long  range 
work  had  to  be  fired  high,  describing  a  long  high  arch,  thus 
missing  all  objects  on  the  battlefield  between  the  gun  and 
the  object  aimed  at.  A  bullet  from  a  modern  rifie  will  fly 
straight  across  the  field  for  hundreds  of  yards  with  no  elevu 
tion,  even  half  a  mile  and  more  with  but  little .  elevation, 


80  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

sweeping  the  whole  width  of  the  field  between  the  gun  and 
the  target.* 

The  deadliness  of  the  modern  rifle  can  be  made  clear  in 
another  way.    Says  Bloch: 

"According  to  the  data  of  the  Prussian  general  Rohne  one  hun- 
dred sharpshooters  will  put  a  battery  out  of  action,  firing  at  a 
distance  of  88  yards  in  the  course  of  two  and  two-fifths  minutes, 
1,100  yards  in  the  course  of  four  minutes,  1,320  yards  in  the  course 
of  seven  and  a  half  minutes,  1,650  yards  in  the  course  of  twenty- 
two  minutes." 

"The  new  Springfield  rifle,"  says  Fitzmorris,-|-  "has  a  range  of  five 
miles,  the  bullet  having  a  velocity  of  2,300  feet  per  second  leaving 
the  weapon,  or  sufiieient  to  drive  it  through  four  and  a  half  feet 
of  white  pine." 

The  "attractiveness"  of  war  increases,  of  eouise,  with  the 
likelihood  that  the  improving  markmanship  of  the  enemy  will 
increase  one's  chances  for  meeting  an  "attraction."  The 
accuracy  of  fire  is  being  rapidly  improved  by  tireless  target 
practice  in  all  the  great  armies  of  the  world.  Says  Mr. 
Wright,  ex-Secretary  of  War ::{: 

"The  results  from  target  practice  for  the  year  1907  and  1908 
show  that  the  average  battery-hitting  capacity  has  been  rapidly 
increased.  .  .  .  About  sixteen  times  as  many  hits  were  made  in  1906 
from  the  same  gun  in  a  given  time  at  the  same  range  as  were 
made  in  1900." 

Under  no  circumstances  should  the  delicate  flesh  of  a  big 
business  man  be  exposed  to  well-aimed  bullets  fired  from  a 
modern  rifle.  His  flesh  is,  of  course,  specially  sensitive  and 
precious.  Moreover,  it  is  wholly  unnecessary,  because  he  can 
buy  the  flesh  of  a  common  working  class  man  for  bullet  stop- 
per purposes  very,  very  cheap,  as  a  substitute.  That  is  a  much 
better  arrangement,  the  big  business  man  thinks,  and,   of 


*  See  J.  Bloch:  The  Future  of  War,  a  volume  of  great  value, 
packed  with  information  concerning  several  different  phases  of  war 
under  present  conditions.  Published  by  Ginn  and  Company,  New 
York. 

t  The  Making  of  America,  Vol.  IX.,  Special  Article,  "Army  and 
Navy,"  p.  388. 

$  Report  for  1908,  p.  33. 


HELL.  81 

course,  the  working  men  agree  with  the  business  men  on  this 
matter  Just  as  they  do  on  nearly  everything  else. 

The  Danish  "Eexer"  rifle  is  another  instrument  ready  for 
use  in  war  and  in  pacifying  hungry  people  on  strike.  The 
"Eexer"  weighs  only  eighteen  pounds,  uses  high-power,  small- 
calibre  ammunition,  is  easily  and  accurately  operated  from  a 
handy,  portable  "rest,"  can  be  conveniently  carried  on  horse- 
back, rushed  up  front  for  short  distances  by  infantry,  can  be 
fired  slowly  or,  if  desired,  by  simply  holding  the  trigger,  300 
times  per  minute.  Equipped  with  this  rifle  one  full  regiment 
of  soldiers  or  militiamen,  each  firing  only  75  shots  per  minute, 
could  fire  into  the  ranks  of  wildly  hungry  strikers  or  unem- 
ployed one  million  five  hundred  thousand  prosperity  slugs  in 
twenty  minutes.  With  this  gun  ten  militiamen  could  "quiet" 
five  thousand  strikers  with  twenty-five  thousand  shots  in  ten 
minutes.* 

With  the  improved  murdering  machine  called  the  Maxim 
gun  700  bullets  per  minute  can  be  fired,  bullets  that  will  kill  a 
man  at  a  range  of  one  and  a  half  miles,  bullets  that  will 
pacify  a  striker  at  a  range  of  two  miles.  The  Clatling  gun 
equipped  with  an  electric  motor  will  discharge  1,800  death- 
dealing  bullets  per  minute.f 

"The  Gatling  gun,"  says  Morris,$  ".  .  .  .  is  now,  in  its  perfected 
form,  in  use  all  over  the  world.  This  consists  of  a  cluster  of  rifle- 
barrels  arranged  around  a  central  shaft  and  rotated  by  a  crank. 
The  magazine  contains  a  supply  of  cartridges,  which  drop  down  and 
are  rammed  home  one  after  another  as  the  barrels  rotate.  This, 
in  the  later  improved  forms,  is  done  with  such  rapidity  that  the 
gun  can  discharge  its  balls  at  the  rate  of  3,000  per  minute.  .  .  . 
Machine  guns  were  designed  for  service  against  bodies  of  men." 

One  modern  gatling  gun  will  tear  a  board  fence 
to  pieces  a  mile  away  in  four  minutes,  and  at  a  range 
of  one  mile  it  will  gnaw  off  a  foot-thick  pine  post 
in  seven  minutes. 

Don't  enlist  till  next  week. 


*  See  A.  Williams :   Romance  of  Modern  Mechanics,  Chapter  27. 
I  McLaren:   Put  up  Thy  Sword,  p.  127. 
t  The  Nation's  Navy,  p.  292. 


82  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

No  wonder  the  politicians  and  big  business  men  are  "too 
busy"  to  get  in  line  on  the  firing-line — patriotically.  And,  of 
course,  they  do  not  want  their  sons  and  sons-in-law  to  get 
up  close  in  front  of  a  belching  Gatling  gun, — in  front  of  a 
inodern  murdering  machine — patriotically. 

If  a  battery  of  modern  gatling  guns,  concealed, 

USING  smokeless  POWDER,  LOCATED  OUT  OF  HEARING  A  MILE 
AWAY  OR  NEARER  AND  EQUIPPED  WITH  A  MAXIM  NOISELESS 
ATTACHMENT, — SHOULD  BE  TRAINED  UPON  A  REGIMENT  OF 
MEN,  EACH  GUN  POURING  ONE  THOUSAND  BULLETS  PEE  MIN- 
UTE INTO  AN  EXPOSED  REGIMENT,  THE  ONLY  OBSERVABLE  RE- 
SULT WOULD  BE  THIS  :  THE  REGIMENT  WOULD  MELT,  STRICKEN 
BY  AN  UNSEEN,  UNHEARD  BREATH  OF  DEATH. 

General  William  P.  Duval,  of  the  United  States  Military 
Staff  and  War  College,  estimates  that  the  Maxim  noiseless 
attachment  for  fire-arms  "would  produce  just  as  much  of  a 
revolution  in  the  art  of  war  as  did  the  smokeless  powder.. 
Psychologically,  this  new  gun  would  double  the  terror  inspired 
by  the  enemy  possessing  it.  .  .  .  The  fear  of  the  enemy  would 
...  at  least  be  doubled." 

Ordering  the  worhing  class  to  go  to  war  with  the  present 
fire-arms  is  like  ordering  a  working  man  to  maJce  a  gun,  load 
it,  dig  his  own  grave,  crawl  down  into  it,  and  there  scream 
"Hurrah  for  death!"  and  then  shoot  himself. 

Perhaps  the  best  way,  at  least  the  safest  way,  to  get  an 
accurate  idea  of  the  effectiveness  of  the  slaughtering  machin- 
ery of  our  day  is  to  read  what  these  guns  accomplish  in  actual 
operation  on  the  battlefield,  pouring  showers,  streams,  storms 
of  lead  and  steel  into  the  ranks  of  men.  The  propaganda  of 
peace  is  powerfully  served  by  books  giving  distinct  impres- 
sions of  war  as  it  may  be  seen  (and  felt)  on  the  -field  where 
modern  arms  are  used.  Some  specially  excellent  books  for 
such  use  are:  Human  Bullets,  by  T,  Sakurai,  a  Japanese 
soldier;*    Port   Arthur:   A    Monster   Heroism,   by   Eichard 


Published  by  Houghton,  Mifl3in  and  Company,  Boston. 


EELL.  83 

Barry;*  The  Red  Laugh,  by  Leonid  Andreief  ;t  The  Downfall, 
by  Emile  Zola  ;$  The  Future  of  War,  by  Jean  Bloch.§ 

Here  following  are  some  paragraphs  from  a  vigorous  book 
of  this  type,  Human  Bullets,  just  noted^  passim,  which  treats 
of  the  Eussian- Japanese  War: 

"The  dismal  horror  of  it  [battle]  can  best  be  observed  when  the 
actual  struggle  is  over.  The  shadow  of  impartial  Death  visits 
friend  and  foe  alike.  When  a  shocking  massacre  is  over,  countless 
corpses  covered  with  blood  lie  flat  in  the  grass  and  between  the 
stones.  What  a  deep  philosophy  their  cold  faces  tell!  When  we 
saAv  the  dead  at  Nanshan,  we  could  not  help  covering  our  eyes  in 
liorror  and  disgust.  .  .  .  Some  were  crushed  in  head  and  face. 
Their  brains  mixed  with  dust  and  earth.  The  intestines  were  torn 
out  and  blood  was  trickling  from  them.  .  .  .  Some  had  photographs 
of  their  wives  and  children  in  their  bosoms,  and  these  pictures  were 
spattered  with  blood.  .  .  .  After  this  battle  we  captured  some  dam- 
aged machine-guns.  This  fire-arm  was  most  dreaded  by  us.  .  .  . 
It  can  be  made  to  sprinkle  its  shots  as  roads  are  watered  with  a 
hose.  It  can  cover  a  larger  or  smaller  space,  or  fire  to  greater  or 
less  distance  as  the  gunner  wills.  ...  If  one  becomes  the  target 
for  this  terrible  engine  of  destruction,  three  or  four  shots  may  go 
through  the  same  place  making  a  wound  very  large.  .  .  .  And  the 
sound  it  makes  ...  is  like  a  power-loom.  It  is  a  sickening  horrible 
sound!  The  Russians  regarded  this  machine  as  their  best  friend. 
And  it  certainly  did  very  much  as  a  means  of  defense.  They  were 
wonderfully  clever  in  the  use  of  this  machine.  They  would  wait 
till  our  men  came  very  near  them,  four  or  five  ken  only,  and  just 
as  we  were  ready  to  shout  a  triumphant  'Banzai!'  this  dreadful 
machine  would  begin  to  sweep  over  us  the  besom  of  destruction,  the 
result  being  hills  and  mounds  of  dead.  After  this  battle  we  dis- 
covered one  soldier  .  .  .  who  had  no  less  than  forty-seven  shots 
in  his  body.  .  .  .  Another  soldier  of  a  neighboring  regiment  received 
more  than  seventy  shots.  These  instances  prove  how  destructive 
is  the  machine-gun.  The  surgeons  could  not  locate  so  many  A^'ounds 
in  one  body,  and  they  invented  a  new  name  [meaning]  'whole-body- 
honey-combed-with-gun-wounds.'  ...  It  was  invariably  this  machine- 
gun  that  made  us  suffer  most  severely.  .  .  .  The  bodies  of  the  brave 
dead  built  hill  upon  hill,  their  blood  made  streams  in  the  valley. 
Shattered  bones,  torn  flesh,  flowing  blood,  were  mingled  with  broken 


*Published  by  Moffat,  Yard  and  Company,  New  York. 
•{■  Published  by  J.  Fisher  Unwin,  London. 
$  Published  by  The  Macmillan  Comoanv,  New  York. 
§  Published  by  Ginn  al^» 


84  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

swords  and  split  rifles.  What  could  be  more  shocking  than  this 
scene!  We  jumped  over  or  stepped  on  the  heaped  up  corpses  and 
went  on  holding  our  noses.  What  a  grief  it  was  to  have  to  tread 
on  the  bodies  of  our  heroic  dead!  .  .  .  What  a  horrible  sight!  Their 
bodies  were  piled  up  two  or  three  or  even  four  deep.  ...  A  sad 
groaning  came  from  the  wounded  who  were  buried  under  the  dead. 
When  this  gallant  assaulting  column  had  pressed  upon  the  enemy's 
forts,  stepping  over  their  dead  comrades'  bodies,  the  terrible  and 
skilful  fire  of  the  machine-guns  had  killed  them  all,  close  by  the  forts, 
piling  the  dead  upon  the  wounded.  .  .  .  After  a  while  the  shells  .  .  . 
began  to  burst  briskly  above  our  heads.  Percussion  balls  fell  around 
us  and  hurled  up  smoke  and  blood  together.  Legs,  hands  and  necks 
were  cut  into  black  fragments  and  scattered  about.  I  shut  my 
eyes.  .  .  ." 

In  what  "imqualified  contempt  do  the  masters  of  the  world 
hold  the  toilers  whom  they  send  into  such  blood-wasting  hells. 
Shakespeare  has  expressed  the  masters'  scorn  for  the  common 
soldier's  flesh  and  blood  thus : 

"Tut,  tut;  good  enough  to  toss;  food  for  powder;  food  for 
powder;  they'll  fill  a  pit  as  well  as  better." 

Here  is  a  glimpse  of  the  battle  of  Sedan  :* 

"Let  your  readers  fancy  masses  of  colored  rags  glued  together 
with  blood  and  brains,  pinned  into  strange  shapes  by  fragments  of 
bones.  Let  them  conceive  men's  bodies  without  legs,  and  legs  without 
bodies,  heaps  of  human  entrails  attached  to  red  and  blue  cloth, 
and  disembowelled  corpses  in  uniform,  bodies  lying  about  in  all 
attitudes  with  skulls  shattered,  faces  blown  oflT,  hips  smaslied,  bones, 
flesh  and  gay  clothing  all  pounded  together  as  if  brayed  in  a 
mortar,  extending  for  miles,  not  very  thick  in  any  one  place,  but 
recurring  perpetually  for  weary  hours,  and  then  they  can  not  with 
the  most  vivid  imagination  come  up  to  the  sickening  reality  of  that 
butchery   [the  battle  of  Sedan,  1870]." 

It  is  reliably  estimated  that  modern  artillery  is 
capable  of  doing  one  hundred  and  sixteen  times  more 
damage  than  the  artillery  used  by  the  german  army 
IN  1870.  Even  the  simple  instrument  known  as  the  range- 
finder  adds  much  to  effectiveness, — it  enables  soldiers  to  find 
the  range  in  three  minutes  and  pour  death-dealing  missiles 


^  Arheiter  in  Council    (Anonymeus),^  pp.   155-56;    published  by 
The  Macmillan  Company,  New  Yort       ■    valuable  book. 


HELL.  85 

into  the  human  targets  promptly.  This  instrument  weighs 
about  sixty  pounds  and  is  being  rapidly  improved.*  A  single 
battery  of  modern  artillery  can  hurl  1,450  rounds  upon  ten 
regiments  of  men  while  they  march  one  mile  and  a  half. 
These  1,450  shells  arranged  with  time  fuses  to  burst  at  the 
target  would  sweep  these  ten  thousand  men  with  275,000 
bullets  and  ragged  iron  scraps.     Bloch  says  :t 

"In  1870  an  ordinary  shell  when  it  burst  broke  into  from  19 
to  30  pieces.  To-day  it  bursts  into  240  pieces.  vShrapnel  in  1870 
scattered  only  37  death-dealing  missiles.  Now  it  scatters  340.  A 
bomb  weighing  about  70  pounds,  thirty  years  ago,  would  have  burst 
into  42  fragments.  Today,  when  it  is  charged  with  peroxilene,  it 
breaks  into  1,200  2:)ieces,  each  of  which  is  hurled  with  much  greater 
velocity  than  the  larger  lumps  which  were  scattered  by  a  gun- 
powder explosion.  It  is  estimated  that  such  a  bomb  would  destroy 
all  life  within  a  range  of  200  metres  [about  200  yards]  of 
tlie  point  of  the  explosion.  .  .  .  With  the  increase  in  the  number 
of  bullets  and  fragments,  and  in  the  forces  which  disperse  them,  in- 
creases also  the  area  which  they  affect.  Splinters  and  bullets  bring 
death  and  destruction,  not  only  as  in  1870,  to  those  in  the  vicinity 
of  the  explosion,  but  at  a  distance  of  220  yards  away,  and  this 
tho'  fired  from  a  distance  of  3,300  yards  [about  two  miles].  .  .  . 
In  a  time  when  rifle  and  artillery  fire  were  beyond  comparison 
weaker  than  they  are  now,  those  who  were  left  unhelped  on  the 
battlefield  might  hope  for  safety.  But  now,  when  the  whole  field 
of  battle  is  covered  with  an  uninterrupted  hail  of  bullets  and  frag- 
ments of  shells  [at  night  too,  with  a  search-light  equipment],  there 
is  little  place  for  such  hope." 

Surely  3^ou  can  easily  see  that  a  business  man's  soft,  fat 
flesh  won't  do  for  a  bullet-stopper.  Here  is  where  the  cheap, 
meek,  weak  wage-slaves  come  in  handy — the  very  stuff  for 
bullet-stoppers. 

In  connection  with  this  subject,  remember  that  a  bullet 
fired  from  a  modern  rifle  or  a  Gatling  gun  rotates  over  3,800 
times  per  second.  This  rotary  motion  produces  the  effect  of 
an  explosion  when  the  bullet  strikes  the  stomach,  bladder, 
or  heart — where  there  are  liquids.    The  effect  is  horrible ;  with 


*See  Bloch:     The  Future  of  War;  also  Morris:     The  Nation's 
Navy,  p.  289. 

■fThe  Future  of  War,  Preface,  p.  XXV.,  also  pp.  9  and  157. 


86  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

terrible  violence  "the  liquids  are  cast  on  all  sides  with  the 
destructive  effect  of  an  explosion." — (Bloch.) 

Of  course,  the  business  man  knows  that  his  flesh  should 
never  be  torn  with  such  a  horrible  thing.  He  has  nothing  to 
fear,  however.  He  will  not  go  to  war.  He  will  send  a  cheap 
man,  a  wage-slave  substitute.  He  knows  it  doesn't  make  any 
difference  in  the  case  of  a  cheap  wage-earner  who  is  only  a 
working-class  slave. 

Ah,  my  working-class  reader,  it  will  make  a  difference 
when  the  working  class  become  proud  enough  and  shrewd 
enough  to  defiantly  declare  that  it  shall  be  different.  The 
business  man  is  too  proud  and  shrewd  to  stand  up  before  these 
modern  flesh-tearing  machines. 

Don't  be  in  a  hurry  to  enlist,  brother.  Wait  a  few  more 
days.  Two  weeks  after  next  will  do.  The  "very  best  people" 
in  your  town  are  not  hurrying  to  enlist.  Can't  you  see  the 
point?  Before  you  enlist,  or  before  you  consent  to  have  your 
son  or  younger  brother  enlist,  be  sure  to  read  some  books 
describing  real  war  with  improved  murdering  machinery.  A 
brilliant  war  correspondent,  Mr.  Eiehard  Barry,  thus  describes 
a  modern  war-storm  in  his  book,  descriptive  of  the  Japanese- 
Eussian  War,  Port  Arthur,  A  Monster  Heroism,  passim:* 

"Toward  three  o'clock  a  second  advance  is  ordered  .  .  .  nearly 
15,000  men  close  in  .  .  .  now  they  are  through  [the  wire  fence] 
.  .  .  half  naked,  savage,  yelling,  even  Japanese  stoicism  gone.  Up 
to  the  very  muzzles  of  the  first  entrenchments  they  surge,  waver 
and  break  like  the  dash  of  angry  waves  against  a  rock-bound  coast. 
.  .  .  Officers  are  picked  off  by  sharp-shooters,  as  flies  are  flecked  from 
a  molasses  jug.  ...  So  up  they  go,  for  the  tenth  time.  .  .  .  Spott- 
sylvania  Court  House  was  no  more  savage.  .  .  .  Thus  hand  to  hand 
they  grapple,  sweat,  bleed,  shout,  expire.  The  veneer  of  culture 
sloughed  as  a  snake  his  cast-off  skin;  they  spit  and  chew,  claw  and 
grip  as  their  forefathers  beyond  the  memory  of  man.  .  .  .  The  cost! 
The  fleeing  ones  left  five  hundred  co7-pses  in  four  trenches.  The 
others  paid  seven  times  that  price — killed  and  wounded — to  turn 
across  the  page  of  the  world's  warfare  that  word  Nanshan.  ...  A 
hospital  ship  left  every  day  for  Japan  carrying  from  200  to  1,000. 
...  I  lay  in  the  broiling  sun  watching  the  soldiers  huddle  against 


*  Published  by  Mofl'at,  Yard  and  Company,  New  York.     Italics 
mine.    G.  R.  K.    See  pp.  '82-83. 


EELL.  87 

the  barbed-wire,  under  the  machine  guns  .  .  .  only  to  melt  away 
like  chaff  before  a  wind.  .  .  .  The  'pioneers'  met  with  the  death- 
sprinkle  of  the  Maxim  [guns]  ...  a  machine  rattled  and  the  shale 
beyond  spattered.  I  was  carried  back  [in  memory]  to  a  boiler 
factory  and  an  automatic  riveter.  Of  all  war  sounds  that  of  the 
machine  gun  is  least  poetic,  is  most  deadly.  .  .  .  The  regiment 
under  fire  of  the  machine  guns  retreated  precipitately,  leaving  one- 
half  its  number  on  the  slope.  .  .  .  Overwhelmed  on  all  sides,  tricked, 
defeated,  two-thirds  of  its  men  killed  or  wounded  .  .  .  for  out  of  that 
[another]  brigade  of  6,000  men  there  are  .  .  .  uninjured  but  G40. 
.  .  .  Moreover  in  throwing  up  their  trenches  .  .  .  corpses  had  to  be 
used  to  improvise  the  walls.  ,  .  .  The  dead  were  being  used  to  more 
quickly  fill  the  embankments.  .  .  .  Soon  dawn  came  and  with  it  hell. 
The  battle  was  on  again.  Within  his  sight  were  more  than  a 
hundred  dead  and  twice  as  many  wounded.  Groans  welled  up  like 
bubbles  from  a  pot.  Arms  tossed  feverishly.  Backs  writhed  in 
despair.  .  .  .  Almost  crazed  by  thirst  and  hunger,  he  [a  wounded 
soldier  unattended  for  days  on  the  battlefield]  at  length  severed  the 
arteries  of  one  of  his  comrades  newly  dead,  and  lived  on  [that  is, 
sucked  blood  from  a  comrade's  corpse?].  He  found  worms  crawling 
in  the  wounds  of  his  legs.  He  tore  up  the  shirt  of  a  corpse  and 
bound  them.  .  .  .  How  like  a  living  thing  a  shell  snarls — as  some 
wild  beast,  in  ferocious  glee  thrusting  its  cruel  fangs  in  earth  and 
rock,  rending  livid  flesh  with  its  savage  claws,  and  its  fetid  breath 
of  poison  powder  scorching  in  the  autumn  winds.  .  .  .  All  the  way 
up  the  base  of  the  hill.  .  .  .  they  were  almost  unmolested.  .  ,  .  This 
made  them  confident.  But  the  Russian  general  .  .  .  had  ordered 
his  men  to  reserve  their  fire  till  we  got  within  close  range,  and 
then  to  give  it  to  us  with  machine  guns.  .  .  .  The  aim  was  so  sure 
and  firing  so  heavy  that  nearly  tico-thirds  of  the  command  was 
mowed  down  at  once.  .  .  .  Then  came  the  thud  of  a  bullet.  It  was 
a  different  thud  from  any  we  had  heard  up  to  that  time,  and 
though  I  had  never  before  heard  bullet  strike  flesh,  I  could  not 
mistake  the  sound.  It  goes  into  the  earth  wliolesome  and  angry, 
into  flesh  ripping  and  sick  with  a  splash  like  a  hoof-beat  of  mud  in 
the  face.  .  .  .  The  parapets  of  four  forts  were  alive  with  bursting 
shrapnel.  A  hundred  a  minute  were  exploding  on  each  (at  fifteen 
gold  dollars  apiece).  The  air  above  them  was  black  with  glycerine 
gases  of  the  motor  shells,  and  the  wind  blowing  .  ,  .  held  huge 
quantities  of  dust.  ,  .  ,  'No,  the  truth  about  war  can  not  be  told. 
It  is  too  horrible.  The  public  will  not  listen.  A  white  bandage 
about  the  forehead  with  a  strawberry  mark  in  the  center — is  the 
picture  they  want  of  the  wounded.  They  won't  let  you  tell  them  the 
truth  and  show  bowels  ripped  out,  brains  spilled,  eyes  gouged  away, 
faces  blanched  with  horror.  .  .  .  Archibald  Forbes  predicted  twenty 


88  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

years  ago  that  the  time  would  come  when  armies  would  no  longer  be 
able  to  take  their  wounded  from  the  field  of  battle.  That  day  has  come. 
We  are  living  in  it.  Wounded  have  existed — how,  God  knows — on 
that  field  out  there  without  help  for  twelve  days,  while  shells  and 
bullets  rained  about  them,  and  if  a  comrade  had  dared  to  come  to 
their  assistance,  his  would  have  been  a  useless  suicide.  The  search- 
light, enginery  of  scientific  trenches,  machine-guns,  rifles  point 
blank  at  200  yards  with  a  range  of  over  2,000 — these  things  have 
helped  to  make  war  more  terrible  than  ever  before  in  history.  Red 
Cross  societies  and  scientific  text-books — they  sell  well  and  look 
pretty,  but  as  for  "humane  warfare" — was  there  ever  put  into  words 
a  mightier  sarcasm ! '  " 

Eead  all  of  Mr.  Barry's  thrilling  book  and  thus  learn 
why  the  haughty  "very  best  people,"  who  despise  the  work- 
ingmen,  socially,  don't  go  themselves,  up  close,  to  the  foul  and 
bloody  hell  called  war. 

In  the  Russian-Japanese  war  275  officers  and  1,349  men 
were  treated  in  a  single  hospital  for  insanity.  Says  Dr.  Awto- 
kratow : 

"As  might  be  anticipated,  in  the  acute  insanities,  particularly  in 
neurasthenic  and  confusional  cases,  the  infiuence  of  the  war  gave  a 
characteristic  color  to  the  mental  symptoms,  phases  of  panic  terror, 
with  hallucinations  of  bursting  shells,  pursuing  enemies,  putrefying 
corpses,  and  so  forth,  being  especially  frequent."* 

A  special  despatch  in  the  New  York  Times   of  December 

11,  1909,  reads: 

"A    carload    of  insane    soldiers    from    the    Philippines    passed 

through  Pittsburgh  [Pennsylvania]   today  in  charge  of  Major  J.  M. 

Kennedy,   who   was  taking   them   to   Washington   from   the    Pacific 

Coast."t 

The  soldiers  of  the  American  Civil  War  did  not  use — had 
not  even  heard  of — the  terrible  explosives  of  our  day.  Mel- 
inite, dynamite,  cordite,  indurite,  motorite,  ecrasite,  peroxilene 
and  other  explosive  compounds  vastly  increase  the  effective- 
ness of  modern  arms  and  in  other  ways  also  multiply  the  dan- 
gers of  the  modern  battlefield. 

Mr.  Charles  Morris  describes  a  dynamite  gun  as  follows  :$ 


*  See  Literary  Digest,  Nov.  9,  1907. 

•f  See  Index :    "Insanity   in  American  Army, 

t  The  Nation's  Navy,  pp.  289-90. 


HELL.  89 

"The  dynamite  gun,  compressed  air  usually  being  employed, 
while  forty  feet  long,  has  a  barrel  of  three-eighth  inch  iron,  with  one- 
eighth  inch  brass  tubing.  Ti.e  projectile  is  of  brass,  forty  inches 
long,  rotation  being  given  it  by  spiral  vanes  fixed  to  its  base.  It 
has  a  conical  cast-iron  point,  twelve  inches  long.  At  a  trial  in 
1895  shells  were  thrown  as  far  as  two  thousand  five  hundred  yards, 
and  one  containing  one  hundred  pounds  of  dynamite  was  thrown  a 
distance  of  two  miles.  Great  accuracy  of  aim  was  attafned.  This 
dangerous  weapon  is  an  object  of  dread  by  naval  officers." 

Writing  of  modern  explosives,  M.  Bloch  says,  in  substance : 
Such  enormous  energy  is  developed  in  firing  cannon  using 
some  of  these  explosives  that  gun,  gunners  and  horses  havo 
been  dragged  a  considerable  distance.  In  the  case  of  a  shell 
exploding  by  slight  accident  due  to  excitement  the  body  of 
the  gun  was  broken  into  twenty  pieces,  the  carriage  and 
wheels  were  reduced  to  a  pile  of  shapeless  steel  and  wooden 
splinters;  single  fragments  of  the  destroyed  gun  "weighed  363 
pounds  and  were  hurled  99  yards  forward  and  backward  from 
the  place  where  the  gun  was  fired,  and  nearly  108  yards  on 
either  side."  He  calls  special  attention  to  the  dangers  due 
to  having  such  explosives  on  the  field  of  hattle.     He  says  :* 

"Notwithstanding  the  distance  between  guns,  a  single  explosion 
might  embrace  several  guns  and  all  their  ammunition. 

"Not  far  from  the  battery  ammunition  cases  will  be  placed.  If 
these  be  not  exploded  by  the  concussion  of  the  atmosphere  they  may 
very  easily  be  exploded  by  some  of  the  heavy  fragments  which  fall 
upon  them." 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  a  new  kind  of  storm — a  possi- 
ble dynamite  storm. 

A  rifle  bullet  fired  into  a  stick  of  dynamite  will  explode 
the  dynamite.  A  bullet  accidentally  fired  from  a  high-power 
rifle  into  a  dynamite  factory  even  a  mile  distant  might  easily 
destroy  the  entire  factory  and  destroy  at  the  same  time  all 
life  in  and  within  hundreds  of  yards  of  the  factory,  because 
of  the  highly  explosive  nature  of  the  dynamite.  The  same  is 
true  of  factories  in  which  other  terrible  explosives  are  being 
prepared  for  use  on  the  battlefield.  Such  explosive  materials 
in  chests  on  the  field  of  battle  create,  of  course^  enormous  dan- 


*  The  Future  of  War,  pp.  21  and  22.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K- 


90  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

ger  that  thousands  may  he  destroyed  with  their  own  ammuni- 
tion. One  steel  bullet,  or  one  shell,  fired  from  a  modern  high- 
power  gun  into  a  chest  of  shells  or  bombs,  loaded  as  they 
are  with  highly  explosive  material, — one  such  bullet  or  shell 
thus  fired,  might  set  off  a  chest  of  shells  and  carry  death  to 
all  around,  these  shells,  exploding  other  chests  of  shells,  and 
these  still  others,  creating  a  sort  of  hell  in  all  directions.  The 
possibilities  thus  created  by  modern  highly  explosive  ammuni- 
tion materials  are  terrible,  horrible  to  contemplate.  Suppose 
ten  thousand  men  on  the  battlefield,  and  suppose  an  explosion 
due  to  a  single  shell  crashing  into  a  chest  of  shells.  A  series 
of  explosions  might  follow.  Tue  first  explosion,  caused  by 
one  shot,  might  be  communicated  from  the  first  bursting  shell 
to  the  next,  and  so  on  in  succession  with  startling  rapidity. 
The  thundering  explosions  would  cause  a  cyclone  of  flying 
splinters  of  wood  and  steel,  scrap-iron,  cannon  barrels,  wagon 
wheels,  the  torn  carcasses,  the  mingled  flesh,  blood  and  bones 
of  dismembered  horses  and  men, — a  storm  of  hopeless  and 
hideous  confusion,  a  harvest  of  death  utterly  indescribable. 
Thousands  of  brave  young  fellows  from  the  farm,  factories, 
mines  and  other  industries  would  thus  be  practically  annihi- 
lated with  their  own  ammunition. 

What  a  place  this  would  be  (up  close)  for  "prominent 
citizens" — bankers,  priests,  preachers,  bishops,  senators,  law- 
yers and  "captains  of  industry"  !  A  storm  of  blood  and  steel ! 
No,  brother,  oh,  no.  No  dynamite  cyclone  for  these  pul- 
monary patriots.  Hardly.  There  is  plenty  of  "common" 
flesh  and  "common"  blood  of  the  "plain  people"  which  can  be 
bought  cheap,  dirt  cheap. 

Reflect  for  a  moment  on  the  horrible  possibilities  of  the 
airship  carrying  a  light  machine  gun  with  a  good  supply  of 
ammunition,  or  carrying  1,000  or  1,500  pounds  of  dynamite 
aloft  over  an  army,  a  city,  or  a  fleet.  The  airship,  though  still 
very  new,  is  already  sufficiently  developed  to  make  it  practica- 
ble to  work  wholesale  ruin  in  this  way.  In  March,  1909, 
Count  Zeppelin's  dirigible  airship,  445  feet  long,  50  feet  in 
diameter,  carrying  three  motors,  a  searchlight,  and  twenty- 
five  people,  fifteen  of  them  soldiers,  made  a  hundred-and-fifty- 


BELL.  01 

mile  trip  at  the  rate  of  almost  forty  miles  an  hour.  Hudson 
Maxim,  the  inventor  and  expert  in  high  explosives,  torpedo 
boat-destroyers,  noiseless  gun  attachments,  and  the  like,  speaks 
thus  of  the  airship  as  a  fighting  machine  :* 

"The  great  field  for  operations  with  high  explosives  carried  in 
airships  will  be  the  raiders'  outfit.  Aerial  raiders  would  be  able 
to  do  wide  destruction  on  unprotected  inland  cities  and  towns, 
destroying  railroads,  blowing  up  bridges,  arsenals,  public  stores, 
powder  magazines  and  powder  mills,  and  in  levying  ransom  on 
moneyed  institutions.  ...  In  future  wars,  the  fronts  of  battle  will 
be  skyline  and  opposing  skyline,  and  over  the  stupendous  arena  mis- 
siles of  death  will  shriek  and  roar,  while  sharp-shooters  with  silent 
rifles  will  make  ambush  in  copse  and  every  hedge  and  highway." 

Now  let  US  look  for  a  moment  at  the  greater  cannon. 

"A  day  will  come,"  said  Victor  IIugo,-f-  "when  a  cannon  will 
be  exhibited  in  the  public  museums,  just  as  an  instrument  of  tor- 
ture is  now,  and  people  will  be  astonished  how  such  thing  could 
have  been." 

The  new  14-inch  gun  fires  a  1,600-pound  projectile.  Used 
at  its  maximum  capacity  it  puts  itself  out  of  commission  in 
six  and  one-half  hours  because  of  the  frightful  wear  of  the 
gun's  heavy  charges  upon  itself.$  The  16-inch  seacoast  gun 
exhibited  at  the  World's  Fair  in  1904  is  officially  described  as 
having  a  "muzzle  energy  of  projectile  .  .  .  76,904  foot  tons." 

"The  Masonic  Temple  in  Chicago,  until  recently  the  largest 
office  building  in  the  world,  weighs  30,000  tons.  In  firing  a  14-inch 
gun,  sufficient  energy  is  developed  to  lift  the  Masonic  Temple  two 
feet  in  one  second.  The  force  behind  a  single  eight-gun  broad- 
side from  14-inch  guns  would  raise  that  building  sixteen  feet  in  a 
single  second."§ 

The  United  States  Government  has  a  16-inch  cannon;  it 
can  throw  a  shot  weighing  2,000  pounds  to  an  extreme  range 
of  twenty-one  miles,  and  has  an  effective  range  of  twelve  miles. 
It  has  been  fired  four  times. 


*  Lecture,  "The  War  of  the  Future,"  at  Amherst  College,  Dec. 
3,  1909. 

•j-  Quoted  in  Charles  Sumner's  Addresses  on  War,  p.  138. 

t  See   Scientific  American,  Sept.  21,   1907. 

§J.  F.  Haskins,  New  York  Globe  and  Commercial  Advertiser, 
Feb.  1,  1909. 


92  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

And  now  think  of  a  murdering  machine  50  feet  long, 
weighing  260,000  pounds,  consuming  612  pounds  of  smokeless 
powder  per  charge,  firing  a  projectile  weighing  2,400  pounds 
through  2?>y2  inches  of  Krupp  steel  armor,  and  having  a  range 
of  almost  nine  miles — a  monster  butchering  machine.  The 
United  States  Government  exhibited  such  a  gun  at  the  World's 
Fair,  at  St.  Louis,  in  1904, — exhibited  this  helFs  masterpiece 
with  pride,  true,  Christian,  savage  pride. 

This  huge  gun  was  exhibited — shrewdly. 

What  for? 

Many  youths  from  Christian  homes  looked  upon  this 
mechanical  monster  and  themselves  became  monsters — in 
their  hearts — eager  to  butcher,  "not  only  willing,  but  anxious 
to  fight." 

Human  slaughter  has  become  a  science.  The  machines 
are  perfect  and  ready,  all  ready,  for  the  worhing  class  to  use — 
on  the  working  class. 

Section  two:    The  silent  destroyek — disease. 

The  barking  rifle,  the  snarling  Catling  gun,  and  the  boom- 
ing cannon — ^these  have  also  on  the  battlefield  a  foul  and 
powerful  confederate,  Disease.  Disease  joins  in  to  poison  the 
blood  the  guns  do  not  spill.  On  this  important  matter  the 
reader  will  appreciate  the  expert  testimony  here  offered. 

"In  every  great  campaign,"  says  L.  L.  Seaman,*  "an  army  faces 
two  enemies:  First,  the  armed  force  of  tlie  opposing  foe  with  his 
various  machines  for  human  destruction,  met  at  intervals  in  open 
battles;  and,  second,  the  hidden  foe,  always  lurking  in  every  camp, 
the  spectre  that  gathers  its  victims  while  the  soldier  slumbers  in 
the  barracks  or  bivouacs,  the  greater  silent  foe — disease.  Of  these 
enemies,  the  history  of  warfare  for  centuries  shows  that  in  ex 
tended  campaigns,  the  first  or  open  enemy  kills  twenty  per  cent,  oi 
tlie  total  mortality;  while  the  second,  or  silent,  enemy  kills  eighty 
per  cent.  In  other  words,  out  of  every  hundred  men  who  fall  in 
war,  twenty  die  from  casualties  of  battle,  while  eighty  perish  from 
disease.  ...  It  is  in  these  conditions  that  we  find  the  true  hell  of 
war.  .  .  .  Health  alone,  however,  is  no  guarantee  against  the  in- 

*  Appleton's  Magazine,  April,  1908. 


HELL.  93 

sidious  attacks  of  the  silent  foe  that  lingers  in  every  camp  and 
bivouac.  It  is  this  foe,  as  the  records  of  war  for  the  past  two 
hundred  years  have  proved,  that  is  responsible  for  four  times  as 
many  deaths  as  the  guns  of  the  enemy,  to  say  nothing  of  the  vast 
number  temporarily  invalided  or  discharged  as  unfit  for  duty.  .  .  . 
In  the  Eusso-Turkish  war,  the  deaths  from  the  battle  casualties 
were  20,000,  while  those  from  disease  were  80,000.  In  our  great 
Civil  conflict  .  .  .  400,000  were  sacrificed  to  disease  to  100,000  from 
battle  casualties.  In  a  recent  campaign  of  the  French  in  Mada- 
gascar 14,000  were  sent  to  the  front,  of  whom  29  were  killed  in 
action,  and  over  7,000  perished  from  preventable  diseases.  In  the 
Boer  War  in  South  Africa  the  English  losses  were  ten  times  greater 
from  disease  than  from  the  bullets  of  the  enemy.  In  our  recent  war 
with  Spain  fourteen  lives  were  needlessly  sacrificed  to  ignorance 
and  incompetency  for  every  man  who  died  on  the  firing  line  or 
from  results  of  wounds. 

"In  our  Spanish  Army  we  had: 
170,000  men, 

156,000  hospital  admissions  in  three  months, 
3,976  dead. 

"The  remainder  were  mustered  out,  most  of  them,  in  shrunken 
and  shriveled  condition  which  the  reader  probably  remembers.  Our 
Army  of  Invasion  nvunbered  20,000;  in  1908  there  were  24,000  pen- 
sioners; of  these  24,000,  over  19,000  are  invalids  and  survivors  of 
the  war;  and  there  are  over  18,000  claims  pending." 

Here  is  Theodore  Eoosevelt's  testimony:* 

"Our  army  [in  Cuba]  included  the  great  majority  of  the 
regulars,  and  was,  therefore,  the  flower  of  the  American  force.  .  .  . 
Every  officer  other  than  myself  except  one  was  down  with  sickness 
at  one  time  or  another.  .  .  ,  Very  few  of  the  men  indeed  retained 
their  strength  and  energy  .  .  .  there  were  less  than  fifty  per  cent, 
who  were  fit  for  any  kind  of  work." 

Disease  as  a  destroyer  appears  in  the  data  furnished  by 

C.  Goltz,  a  few  lines  of  which  interesting  facts  run  thus  :t 

"It  is  horrible  to  see  trains  packed  full  with  sick  soldiers  sent 
away  from  the  army.  .  .  .  The  loss  from  sickness  is  almost  incred- 
ible, and  one  example  is  sufficient  to  prove  that  these  losses  may 
put  all  success  at  stake.  The  sanitary  conditions  of  the  German 
army  in  France  in  1870  was  very  favorable;  there  were  no  danger- 
ous infectious  diseases.  Nevertheless,  400,000  men  were  entered  at 
the  hospitals  during  the  campaign,  in  addition  to  those  dangerously 
wounded." 


*  The  Rough  Riders,  pp.  202,  209. 
t  The  'Nation  in  Arms,  p.  376. 


94  WAR— ]y HAT  FOR? 

Anitchkow  thus  testifies  :* 

"In  such  a  rich  country  as  France,  and  in  such  a  splendid  cli- 
mate, the  army  lost  four  times  more  from  disease  than  from  battles. 
[Franco-Prussian  War,  1870-71.]  It  is  evident  that  the  force  of 
modern  arms  .  .  .  presents  less  danger  than  infectious  diseases  and 
other  sicknesses  inseparable  from  the  rough  life  of  large  camps."-}- 

An  anonymous  author^  quoted  on  a  preceding  page,  calls 
attention^  to  a  matter  of  great  importance  in  this  connection, 
namel}^  the  decreasing  opportunity  to  carry  the  wounded  off 
the  battlefield  and  the  consequent  increasing  terrors  for  the 
men  who  lie  torn,  feverish  and  unattended  on  the  field  lighted 
at  night  with  searchlights  and  raked  with  machine  guns,  not 
only  during  the  day,  but  also  at  night,  making  prompt  rescue 
and  surgical  attention  impossible.     He  writes: 

"One  of  the  most  cruel  features  in  future  battles  will  be  the 
contrast  between  the  great  improvement  in  medical  service,  and  the 
increasing  difficulty,  despite  the  Red  Cross,  of  giving  aid  to  the 
wounded.  .  .  .  His  conclusion  [the  conclusions  of  Dr.  Bardeleben, 
who  was  Surgeon-General  of  the  Prussian  Army  during  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War]  was  that  the  whole  system  of  carrying  away  the 
wounded  on  litters  during  the  battle  must  be  abandoned  as  alto- 
gether impracticable.  This  I  believe  has  proved  to  be  generally  true. 
And  now  battles  last  a  week  or  ten  days!  Something,  of  course, 
can  be  done  under  cover  of  the  night — though  the  custom  of  fighting 
at  night  prevails  more  and  more.  ...  It  is  probable  that,  in  spite 
of  all  improvements  in  medicine  and  ambulance,  the  sufferings  of  the 
wounded  in  the  great  battles  in  Manchuria  and  at  the  siege  of  Port 
Arthur  have  been  as  great  as,  if  not  greater  than,  those  of  any  war 
of  recent  times." 

Here  it  is  to  he  emphasized  hy  the  young  man  who  is 
thiiiJcing  of  joining  the  army  that  in  spite  of  the  loud  outcry 
against  the  poor  fellows  of  our  army  in  the  Cuban  war  in  the 
way  of  criminally  inefficient  medical  service,  our  great  and 
extremely  patriotic  statesmen  who  love  the  common  soldiers 
so  dearly  have  in  the  twelve  years  since  the  war  made  no  ade- 


*  War  and  Labor,  p.  54. 

f  But  see  Professor  Mayo-Smith's  Statistics  and  Sociology. 

t-^rbeiter  in   Council,  pp.   150-51. 


HELL.  95 

qiiate  'preparation  to  prevent  another  such  outrage.     Let  the 
following  stand  as  evidence  of  this  statement  :* 

"Under  the  existing  organization  it  would  he  impossible  to  pre- 
vent a  breakdown  of  the  Medical  Department  in  case  of  a  war  in- 
volving the  mobilization  of  the  volunteer  forces,  nor  would  it  be 
possible  to  spare  the  necessary  Regular  medical  officers  to  apply  in 
those  voluntary  forces  the  modern  sanitary  measures  so  vital  to  the 
health  and  efficiency  of  the  troops,  without  which  unnecessary  suf- 
fering is  produced  and  disaster  is  invited." 

Thus  also  the  Xew  York  Times  ij 

"The  admission  rate  into  the  hospitals  for  the  American  Army 
is  [now  in  the  time  of  peace]  1,250  per  1,000  ea«h  year.  The 
British  Annual  notes  that  this  enormous  rate  is  well  above  that  for 
the  French,  German  and  Austrian  armies,  while  the  hospital  lists  for 
the  British  Army  show  a  rate  of  but  324  per  thousand." 

However,  all  this,  so  far  as  personal  danger  is  concerned, 
is  of  small  importance  to  the  leading  citizens,  because  they — 
these  leaders — will  never  lead  or  be  led  to  war.  They  have 
nothing  to  fear  from  hissing  bullet,  burning  fever,  and  the 
death-grip  of  devouring  diseases  in  war.  The  plain,  cheap 
wage-slave,  the  industrial  draft-horses,  the  common  men 
forced  to  keep  books  for  a  poor  little  salary,  the  fifteen-dollar- 
a-week  clerks,  the  blistered  miners,  the  tanned  railroad  men, 
the  grease-stained  machinists,  the  soil-stained  farm  toilers, 
these,  all  these  and  many  others  must  learn  one  thing  dis- 
tinctly, and  that  thing  is  this:  Modern  human  butchering 
machinery  has  been  so  highly  developed,  and  disease  in  war 
is  so  hideous,  that  "our  best  citizens,"  ''our  very  best  people," 
'•'our  most  successful  men."  politely  (and  intelligently)  decline 
all  "glorious  opportunities"  to  have  their  smooth  fat  bodies 
exposed  to  the  steel-belching  machines,  or  have  their  health 
ruined  on  the  battlefield  and  in  the  "dead-house"  called  a 
military  hospital.  The  common  earth  must  not  drink  up  their 
rich  aristocratic  blood :  no  rough  army  surgeon  shall  carve 
and  slice  and  saw  the  "leading  citizens"  and  carelessly  toss 


•Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War    (William  H.  Taft), 
1907,  p.  25.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 
I  Editorial,  Oct.  7,  1909. 


96  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

their  severed  arms  and  legs  into  a  bloody  heap  of  flesh  as  a 
butcher  tosses  scraps  and  trimmings  from  steaks  and  chops 
from  his  cutting  block.  Why,  certainly  not.  It  should  be 
remembered  that  such  people  as  bankers,  big  manufacturers, 
mine-owners,  Senators,  Congressmen,  great  editors  and  the 
like,  do  not  have  much  physical  exercise  and  at  the  same  time 
they  eat  daintier  food.  They  are  not  strong  in  muscle,  except 
for  golf,  horseback  riding,  swimming,  hunting  trips,  mountain 
climbing.  They  are  softer  in  flesh  than  the  wage-earner. 
They  belong  to  the  "very  best  families,"  and  hence  their  flesh 
is  finer,  their  "blue"  blood  is  richer  and  more  sacred  than  the 
wage-earner's  cheap  red  ooze.  They  are  the  social  thorough- 
breds, and  the  thoroughbreds  believe  that  the  thoroughbreds 
should  be  kept  well  out  of  danger,  while  just  the  common 
social  draft-horses  are  rushed  to  the  front  where  the  modern 
butchering  machinery  is  ready  to  mow  down  men  by  the 
thousands  and  befouling  disease  is  ready  to  rot  the  unspilt 
blood. 

My  working  class  brothers,  mark  it  well:  In  the  gilded, 
palatial  homes  of  the  industrial  masters,  in  their  club  houses, 
in  their  elegant  business  ofiices,  in  the  legislative  halls  where 
"statesmen"  meet, — there  the  so-called  best  people,  the  still- 
fed,  stall-fed  snobs  and  Caesars  of  society  never  for  one  mo- 
ment consider  the  matter  of  going  themselves  to  the  front, 
never  for  an  instant  plan  to  go  themselves  into  the  cyclones 
of  lead  and  steel  or  into  the  death-grasp  of  disease  in  war. 

Never ! 

To  them  the  idea  is  so — well,  so  unkind — also  ridiculous. 

Their  minds  are  made  up. 

They  will  not  go. 

But  you,  you  brothers  of  the  working  class,  you  who  toil 
on  and  on  for  cheap  clothing,  cheap  shelter  and  cheap  food — 
you  whose  very  lives  are  bought  and  sold  on  the  installment 
plan,  for  wages  day  by  day — ^you  who  are  forced  to  become  the 
socially  despised  human  oxen — you — you  will  be  forced  to  the 
front,  blinded  with  flattery  and  confused  with  gay-colored 
flags  and  booming  drums — you  will  virtually  be  forced  to  cut 
your  own  throats — forced  to  blow  out  your  own  brains  and 


HELL.  97 

blood  with  these  modern  steel  destroyers,  and  forced  to  ex- 
pose your  lives  to  the  grim  curse.  Disease.  You  will  groan 
and  scream  and  slowly  rot  and  die  in  a  dingy  hospital  tent 
or  shed  far  from  those  you  love — laughed  at  (secretly)  by 
the  prominent  people  who  have  already  made  up  their  minds 
not  to  go  to  war. 

How  long,  0  brothers  of  the  working  class,  how  long  can 
you  be  seduced  to  slay  yourselves? 

Leading  citizens  will  bring  about  and  brag  about  the  wars. 

But  you,  my  brothers,  will  fight  the  wars. 

Grim  Disease  waits  ready  to  give  you  her  slimy  embrace. 

The  cold  steel  machines  are  ready — ready  for  heated  men. 

Keep  cool. 

Beware  of  the  "war  fever." 

Notice  carefully  : — Your  wealthy  employers  are  not  en- 
listing for  the  firing  line.  They  are  immune  from  the  fool's 
fever. 

Wait  a  little  before  you  enlist.  Think  it  over — till  week 
after  next. 

You  ARE  SAFE — (jUST  THINK  OF  IT) — ABSOLUTELY  SAFE 
FROM  DEATH  IN  THE  NEXT  VS^AR — IF  YOU  CAN  KEEP  OFF  THE 
FIRING  LINE  TILL  THE  "PROMINENT  GENTLEMEN"  OF  YOUR 
COMMUNITY  HAVE  BEEN  ON  THE  FIRING-LINE  FOR  THIRTY 
DAYS. 

Once  again,  brother,  admit  this  thought  to  your  brain: — 
The  working  class  must  be  the  protectors  of  their  own  class — 
always.* 

Section  three  :  Peaceful  slaughter — in  industry. 

Surely  it  is  bad  enough  to  have  the  workingmen  slaugh- 
tered while  on  the  battlefield  where  each  is  armed  and  has  his 
heart  full  of  stupid  hate  for  his  fellow  workingman  of  some 
other  country.  But  it  is  outrageous  that  men,  women,  and 
little  children  should  be  killed  and  wounded  by  the  hundreds 
of  thousands  every  year  in  our  own  country  while  they  are 


♦  See  Index :   "Another  War." 


98  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

engaged  in  the  useful,  peaceful  pursuits  of  industry.  Let 
us  briefly  consider  this  matter. 

The  owner  of  a  chattel-slaYe  worker  is  careful  to  protect 
the  chattel-slave  from  accident,  from  sickness  and  from  death. 
The  slave-owner  buys  the  slave,  buys  his  whole  life,  at  one 
purchase;  and  he  is  interested,  therefore,  in  having  the  slave 
alive  and  well  and  sound  as  long  as  possible  in  order  to  get 
out  of  the  slave  as  much  labor-power  as  possible. 

But  the  capitalist  employer  of  the  WAGE-slave  worker 
does  not  buy  the  wage-earner  for  life;  he  buys  the  wage- 
earner,  the  wage-slave,  in  sections  ;  that  is,  for  a  month,  or  a 
week  or  a  day  at  a  time — eight  or  ten  hours'  labor-power  per 
day.  Thus  there  is  no  rish  for  the  capitalist  if  the  wage- 
earner  falls  sick  and  dies ;  he  is  not  responsible  for  the  wage- 
earner's  health.  If  the  grinding  toil  ages  or  sickens  the  wage- 
earner  it  is  nothing  to  the  employer  of  the  wage-slaves.  There 
are  plenty  more  wage-slaves  eager  to  sell  their  labor-power 
if  some  get  sick  or  wounded,  or  die. 

Of  course  it  costs  the  employer,  it  is  expensive  to  him,  it 
reduces  the  precious  surplus, — it  cuts  down  the  profits  on  the 
labor-power  he  buys  for  wages — to  ventilate  his  factory  per- 
fectly, to  keep  it  clean  of  dust,  foul  odors  and  poisonous  gases, 
to  arrange  safeguards  about  dangerous  machinery  in  order 
to  protect  the  wage-earners  against  accident  and  sickness. 
Eailway  companies,  for  example,  are  very  slow  to  provide  all 
possible  safeguards  to  protect  employees — simply  because  it 
is  expensive,  cuts  down  profits,  reduces  the  surplus  value. 
Human  life,  however,  is  very  cheap  under  the  wage-system. 
Of  course  a  safety  device,  a  ventilator,  might  save  a  human 
arm  or  a  human  life — of  a  wage-earner;  but  the  life-saving 
arrangement  costs  quite  a  bit  of  money.  A  new  human  arm, 
another  human  life  (another  worker)  can  easily  be  found  to 
take  the  place  of  the  lost  arm  or  the  destroyed  life — and 
without  extra  expense  to  the  capitalist  employer.  There  are 
plenty  of  wage-slaves  waiting  'round  anxious  to  be  hired,  and 
thus  a  WAGE-slave  limb  or  life  can  be  replaced  as  easily  as 
a  wooden  plug  or  a  broken  wheel  in  a  machine,  and  with  no 


HELL.  99 

such  loss  as  there  would  be  if  his  workers  were  chattel- 
slaves.  Thus  the  wage-slave  plan  is  cheaper — more  profitable 
— and  surely  more  convenient. 

You  can  see  that — can't  you? 

Of  course  "it  is  cruel" — there  is  no  sentiment  in  such  a 
procedure.  But  that  does  not  matter,  under  capitalism: 
"Business  is  husiness" — and  "there  is  no  sentiment  in  busi- 
ness "  we  are  assured  of  that  by  leading  Christian  business 
men. 

Hence  everywhere  there  is  vicious  neglect  by  the  capitalist 
employers  in  the  matter  of  protecting  the  health,  limb  and 
life  of  the  WAGE-workers,  the  wAGE-slaves.  The  wage-system 
is  in  this  respect  far  more  cruel  and  murderous  than  the 
chattel-slave  system.  Of  course  it  seems  impossible  that  capi- 
talism is  more  inhumanly  scornful  of  human  life  than  was 
chattel  slavery.  But  here  following  is  some  evidence  to 
show  how  the  greed  for  profits  under  the  wage-system  results 
in  the  slaughter  of  men,  women  and  children — far  worse  than 
under  the  chattel-slave  system,  even  far  heavier  slaughter 
than  in  actual  war,  real  war  in  which  even  wholesale  butchery 
with  sword,  rifle  and  cannon  means  magnificent  success. 

"It  is  the  common  consensus  of  opinion,"  says  The  New  York 
Independent  *  "among  investigators  that  industrial  casualties  in 
this  nation  number  more  than  500,000  yearly.  Dr.  Josiah  Strong 
estimates  the  number  at  564,000.  As  there  are  525,600  minutes  in  a 
year,  it  may  readily  be  seen  that  every  minute  {day  and  night)  our  in- 
dustrial system  sends  to  the  grave-yard  or  to  the  hospital  a  human 
being,  the  victim  of  some  accident  inseparable  from  his  toil.  We 
cry  out  against  the  horrors  of  war.  .  .  .  But  the  ravages  ...  of 
Industrial  warfare  are  far  greater  than  those  of  armed  conflict. 
The  nimiber  of  killed  or  mortally  wounded  (including  deaths  from 
accidents,  suicides  and  murders,  but  excluding  deaths  from  dis- 
ease) in  the  Philippine  War  from  February  4,  1809,  to  April  30, 
1902,  was  1,573.  These  fatal  casualties  were  spread  over  a  period 
of  three  years  and  three  months.  But  one  coal  mine  alone  in  one 
year  furnished  a  mortality  more  than  38  per  cent,  in  excess  of  this. 

"The  Japanese  war  is  commonly  looked  upon  as  the  bloodiest 
of  modern  wars.     According  to  the  official  statement  of  the  Japanese 


*  March   14,   1907.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


100  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Government,  46,180  Japanese  were  killed,  and  10,970  died  of  wounds. 
Our  industrial  war  shows  a  greater  mortality  year  by  year. 

"But  we  are  all  of  us  more  familiar  with  the  Civil  War,  and  we 
know  what  frightful  devastation  it  caused  in  households  North  and 
South.  It  was,  however,  but  a  tame  conflict  compared  with  that 
which  rages  today,  and  which  we  call  'peace.'  The  slaughter  of  its 
greatest  battles  are  thrown  in  the  shade  by  the  slaughter  which 
particular  industries  inflict  today.  Ask  any  schoolboy  to  name 
three  of  the  bloodiest  battles  of  that  war,  and  he  will  probably  name 
Gettysburg,  Chancellorsville  and  Chickamauga.  The  loss  on  both 
sides  was: 

Killed.  Wounded. 

"Gettysburg 5,662  27,203 

Chancellorsville, 3,271  18,843 

Chickamauga    3,924  23,362 

Total    12,857  69,408 

"But  our  railroads,  state  and  interstate,  and  our  trolleys  in  one 
year  equal  this  record  in  the  number  of  killings  and  double  it  in 
the  number  of  woundings.  .  .  . 

"But  whose  interest  is  it  that  the  lives  of  the  workers  shall  be 
.  .  .  guarded?  The  employer  class  has  no  material  interest  in  the 
matter.  The  worker  is  'free,'  legally,  to  refuse  to  work  under  dan- 
gerous conditions.  If,  economically,  he  must  accept  work  under 
these  conditions  [or  starve],  that  is  another  matter." 

Another  witness*  sets  forth  the  murderous  carelessness  of 
the  lives  of  the  workers  in  modern  industry  thus : 

"In  Allegheny  County,  Pa.,  including  Pittsburgh,  17,700  per- 
sons were  killed  or  injured  last  year  in  the  mills  and  on  the  rail- 
roads or  in  some  of  the  workshops  of  that  interesting  Inferno.  This 
number  has  been  recorded  and  reported,  and  there  were,  of  course, 
others  whose  deaths  or  injuries  were  not  reported.  .  .  .  Life  and  limb 
are  needlessly  sacrificed — hundreds  of  thousands  of  lives  every  de- 
cade. This  is  one  of  the  penalties  that  we  pay  for  quick  industrial 
success." 

"Quick  industrial  success"  is  good,  a  fine  phrase  indeed — 
in  the  mining  industry,  for  example,  in  which  in  the  United 
States  from  1889  to  1909  over  30,000  men  were  killed.f 
If  a  war  were  on  in  the  Philippines  and  1500  of  our  men 


1909 


World's  Work,  March,  1906. 
t  Museum  of  Safety  and  Sanitation,  Bulletin,  issued  December, 


HELL.  101 

were  being  slaughtered  every  year  the  generals  and  captains 
in  charge  of  our  forces  would  be  regarded  as  failures.  Yet 
the  captains  of  industry,  in  the  capitalist  administration  of 
the  mining  industry  alone,  in  the  United  States  sacrifice  more 
than  1500  brave  men  of  the  great  industrial  army  every  year. 

That  the  modern  industry,  inspired  by  insane  lust  for 
profits- for  part  of  the  people  rather  than  by  welfare  for  all  the 
people — that  this  modern  industry  is  far  more  deadly  than 
real  war  on  a  large  scale — this  seems  impossible.  Yet  it  is 
not  at  all  an  impossibility ;  it  is  reality ;  it  is  experience ;  it  is 
fact;  it  is  the  savagery  of  capitalist  civilization. 

All  the  profit-mongers'  proud  and  stupid  boasting 
of  the  noble  triumphs  op  capitalist  "philanthropy" 
can  not  hush  the  loud-shouting  fact  that  the  sickle 
of  death  cuts  down  the  toilers  far  more  rapidly  v?hile 
peacefully  on  duty  in  the  industries  than  it  slashes 
down  in  time  of  war  on  the  firing-line  and  in  the 
military  hospital — far  more  than  the  rifle^  sword, 
bayonet,  and  disease  combined. 

This  is  true,  horrible  and  important.  And  because  it  is 
true,  horrible  and  important,  all  doubt  concerning  the  matter 
should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  dispelled.  And,  therefore,  still 
more  evidence  is  here  offered  to  make  the  matter  clear. 

The  eminent  publicist,  Dr.  Josiah  Strong,  testifies:* 

"We  might  carry  on  a  half  dozen  Philippine  wars  for 
three-quarters  of  a  century  with  no  larger  number  of  total 
casualties  than  take  place  yearly  in  our  peaceful  industries. 

"Taking  the  lowest  of  our  three  estimates  of  in- 
dustrial ACCIDENTS,  THE  TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  CASUALTIES  SUF- 
FERED BY  OUR  INDUSTRIAL  ARMY  IN  ONE  YEAR  IS  EQUAL  TO 
THE  AVERAGE  ANNUAL  CASUALTIES  OF  OUR  CiVIL  WaR,  PLUS 
THOSE  OF   THE    PHILIPPINE  WaR,  PLUS   THOSE   OF  THE   RUS- 

sian-Japanese  War. 

"Think  of  carrying  on  three  such  wars  at  the  same  time, 
world  without  end." 

Losses  from  sickness  in  war  and  from  sickness  contracted 


*  'North  American  Review,  Nov.,  1906.    Emphasis  mine.  G.  R.  K. 


10^  WAE—WHAT  FOR? 

in  industry  are,  it  should  be  remembered,  not  included  in 
Dr.  Strong's  calculations. 

President  Koosevelt  in  liis  Annual  Message  of  1907  bluntly 
stated  the  facts  as  follows : 

"Industry  in  the  United  States  now  exacts  .  .  . 
a  fak  heavier  toll  of  death  than  all  of  our  wars  put 

TOGETHER.  .  .  .  ThE  NUMBER  OF  DEATHS  IN  BATTLE  IN  ALL 
THE  FOREIGN  WARS  PUT  TOGETHER  FOR  THE  LAST  CENTURY 
AND  A  QUARTER,  AGGREGATE  CONSIDERABLY  LESS  THAN  ONE 
year's  DEATH  RECORD  FOR  OUR  INDUSTRIES." 

It  is  inevitable  that  this  slaughter  of  the  toilers  both  in 
industry  and  in  war  will  work  rapidly  and  disastrously  against 
the  general  blood-vigor  of  society.  Serious  and  conservative 
students  of  the  blood-letting  and  blood-weakening  tendencies 
of  capitalistic  society  are  beginning  to  sound  the  alarm.  The 
startlingly  visible  results  in  British  society  serve  as  excellent 
illustrative  material.  For  more  than  two  hundred  years  vast 
numbers  of  the  soundest,  strongest  British  workingmen  have 
been  slaughtered  or  weakened  in  war;  and  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years  (the  era  of  intense  machine  production)  the 
British  workingmen,  women,  and  children  have  been  cruelly 
overworked,  underfed  and  ill-clad  in  the  struggle  for  exist- 
ence— in  the  industrial  civil  war  called  capitalism.  And  here 
are  some  of  the  results : 

"In  Manchester,"  say*?  Thomas  Burke,*  "out  of  12,000  would-be 
recruits  [for  the  South  African  War],  8,000  were  rejected  as  vir- 
tually invalids,  and  only  1,200  could  be  regarded  as  fit  in  all  re- 
spects. •  .  .  General  Sir  Frederick  Maurice  declared  that,  according  to 
the  best  evidence  he  could  obtain,  it  was  the  fact  that  for  many 
years  out  of  every  five  recruits  only  two  were  found  to  be  physically 
fit  after  two  years'  service.  ...  It  was,  indeed,  a  startling  fact 
that  60  per  cent,  of  the  men  ofi'ering  themselves  for  active  service 
were  physically  unfit." 

Thus  the  well-known  preacher  and  lecturer.  Dr.  Newell 
Dwight  Hillis,  of  Brooklyn,  New  Yorkrf 

"Many   forms   of  public   charity,    from   a   scientific   viewpoint, 

*  The  Forum,  Jan.,  1905. 

t  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle,  Feb.  13,  1907. 


HELL.  103 

seem  a  curse,  while  wars  and  many  industries  seem  the  enemies  of 
the  blood  of  the  nation.  .  .  .  The  national  physique  has  suffered  an 
incalculable  loss.  In  one  factory  town  [in  England]  the  military 
commission,  examining  young  men  for  the  South  African  War,  re- 
jected nineteen  out  of  twenty,  because  of  some  defect  in  the  eyes 
or  lungs  or  legs." 

It  is  to  be  remembered  tbat  many  thousands  of , men  who 
report  for  examination  as  candidates  for  military  service  are 
so  evidently  defective  that  no  formal  examination  is  neces- 
sary for  their  prompt  rejection.  It  is  also  important  to  con- 
sider the  fact  that  there  are  many  thousands  of  men  who 
would  gladly  join  the  army,  but  make  no  application,  know- 
ing well,  in  advance,  that  they  would  be  rejected  as  unfit. 
Thus  the  statistics  showing  that  a  large  per  cent,  of  those 
reporting  to  the  military  department  as  candidates  for  the 
service  are  "rejected  on  examination,"  even  these  statistics  do 
not  fully  reveal  the  unfortunate  condition  of  affairs.  In  ten 
of  the  largest  cities  of  England  and  Scotland  in  the  year  end- 
ing September  30,  1907,  there  were  34,808  applicants  for 
admission  to  the  army.  Forty-seven  per  cent,  of  these  appli- 
cants were  rejected  as  physically  unfit.*  Of  course,  the  per- 
centage of  rejections  would  have  been  far  heavier  if  all  had 
applied  who  would  have  been  glad  to  join  the  army. 

The  next  generation  of  English  working-class  people  will 
probably  be  far  more  physically  defective  than  the  present 
generation. 

In  Westham  public  school  (London)  it  was  recently  found : 

".  .  .  That  87  per  cent,  of  the  infants  and  70  per  cent,  of  the 
older  children  were  below  the  normal  physique.  These  were  all 
children  of  the  dockers. 

"Neglecting  the  kindly  and  assuageable  problem  of  rural  pov- 
erty, we  seem  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  some  seven  and  a  half 
millions  of  people  are  at  the  present  moment  in  England  living 
below  the  poverty  line — a  problem  which  if  only  definitely  realized 
in  its  squalid  immensity  is  surely  enough  to  stagger  lumianity."| 

In  England,  because  of  the  physical  decline  of  the  work- 
ing class,  the  Government  has  so  much  difficulty  in  finding  a 


*  Labor  Leader,  London,  July  17,  1908. 

fC.  F.  G.  Masterman:    Contemporary  Review,  Jan.,  1902. 


104  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

sufficient  number  of  sound  men  to  fill  the  ranks  that  it  has 
been  necessary,  since  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  to  repeatedly 
lower  the  physical  requirements  for  enlistment. 

Thus  do  our  brothers  and  sisters  of  the  working  class 
decay — driven  to  death — in  the  mills  and  mines  and  other  in- 
dustries. And  in  many  parts  of  the  world  the  fleshless  skulls 
of  the  toilers  slaughtered  on  the  battlefield  stare  and  grin  at 
the  present  generation  of  workers  decaying,  dying  in  the  capi- 
talist industrial  warfare.  The  president  of  Stanford  Univer- 
sity, Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan,  writes  :* 

"It  is  claimed  on  authority  .  .  .  that  the  French  soldier  of 
today  is  nearly  two  inches  shorter  than  the  soldier  of  a  century 
ago.  .  .  .  There  [in  Novara,  Italy]  the  farmers  have  ploughed  up 
skulls  of  men  till  they  have  piled  up  a  pyramid  ten  to  twelve  feet 
high.  .  .  .  These  were  the  skulls  of  the  young  men  of  Savoy,  Sar- 
dinia, and  Austria, — men  of  eighteen  to  thirty-five,  without  physical 
blemish  so  far  as  may  be.  .  .  .  You  know  the  color  that  we  call 
magenta,  the  hue  of  the  blood  that  flowed  out  over  the  olive  trees. 
.  .  .  Go  over  Italy  as  you  will,  there  is  scarcely  a  spot  not  crim- 
soned with  the  blood  of  France,  scarcely  a  railway  station  without 
its  pile  of  French  tkulls.  You  can  trace  them  across  to  Egypt,  to 
the  foot  of  the  Pyra  nids.  Y^'ou  will  find  them  in  Germany,  at  Jena 
and  Leipzig,  at  Liitzen  and  Bautzen  and  Austerlitz.  You  will  find 
them  in  Russia,  at  ^Moscow;  in  Belgium,  at  Waterloo.  'A  boy  can 
stop  a  bullet  as  well  as  a  man,'  said  Napoleon;  and  with  the  rest 
are  the  skulls  of  boys  .  .  .  'born  to  be  food  for  powder,'  was  the 
grim  epigram  of  the  day." 

This  vast  crime,  this  phase  of  hell  for  the  working  class, 
is  well  stated  by  J.  H.  Rose  :t 

"Amidst  the  ever  deepening  misery  they  [Napoleon's 
army]  struggled  on,  until  of  the  600.000  who  had  proudly 
crossed  the  Niemen  for  the  conquest  of  Eussia,  only  20,000 
famished,  frost-bitten,  unarmed  spectres  staggered  [back] 
across  the  bridge  of  Lorno  in  the  middle  of  December.  .  .  . 
Despite  the  loss  of  the  most  splendid  army  ever  marshalled  by 
man,  Napoleon  .  .  .  strained  every  effort  to  call  the  youth 
of  the  empire  to  arms.  .  .  .  The  mighty   sv^'irl  of  the 

MOSKOW  CAMPAIGN  SUCKED  IN   150.000  LADS  UNDER  TWENTY 


*  The  Blood  of  the  Nation,  pp.  45-47. 

t  The  History  of  l:iapoleon.     Emphasis  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


HELL.  105 

YEARS  OP  AGE  INTO  THE  VORTEX.  .  .  .  The  peasants  gave  up 
their  sons  as  food,  for  cannon.  ...  In  less  than  half  a  year 
after  the  loss  of  half  a  million  men  a  new  army  nearly  as 
large  was  marshalled.  .  .  .  But  the  majority  were  young. 
.  .  .  Soldiers  were  wanting,  youths  were  dragged  forth." 
President  Jordan,  quoting  Mr.  Otto  Seek,  said:* 

"Napoleon  in  a  series  of  years  seized  all  the  youth  of  high 
stature  and  left  them  scattered  over  many  battlefields,  so  that  the 
French  people  who  followed  them  are  mostly  men  of  smaller  stature. 
More  than  once  in  France  since  Napoleon's  time  has  the  [physical] 
limit  been  lowered." 

The  ancient  Eomans,  a  large  robust  people,  spilt  so  much 
of  the  best  blood  of  the  best  men  in  their  "glorious"  wars  that 
their  modern  descendants,  the  Italians,  are  conspicuously  in- 
ferior, physically,  to  their  ancient  ancestors;  comparatively 
they  are  stunted.  The  "glorious"  victories  of  Caesar  alone 
cost  more  than  a  million  picked  men  on  the  battlefield.f 

These  vast,  incalculable  wrongs  thrust  into  the  lives  of 
the  working  class — will  they  ever  be  righted? 

Day  dawns  even  now. 

The  lust  for  blood  and  profits  will  yet  be  cheated  of  its 
victories  and  victims — in  the  hastening  future. 

Our  working  class  brothers  in  Europe  are  already  rousing 
and  shaking  off  the  cruel  spell  of  the  gilt-braided  butchers 
and  silk-hatted  capitalist  statesmen  and  industrial  Neros; 
the  toilers  in  Europe  are  learning  to  seize  the  powers  of  gov- 
ernment in  self-defense, — quietly  and  legally,  of  course,  hut — 

DEFIANTLY.t 

We — driven,  rob])ed  and  despised  in  the  factory;  betrayed, 
buncoed  and  slaughtered  on  the  battlefield;  voiceless  in  the 
control  of  industry,  voiceless  in  the  capitalist  political  party 
conventions,  voiceless  in  the  judiciary,  voiceless  in  state  and 
national  legislatures,  voiceless  in  the  state  and  national  execu- 
tive councils,  ridiculed  by  "high  society,"  scorned  everywhere 


*  In  an  address,  "The  Biology  of  War,"  May  3,  1909,  Chicago. 
I  Reference   for   substance   and  part  of  phrasing   of  this   para- 
graph has  been  lost. 

J  See  Index:   "Four  Historic  Events." 


106  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

— we  also  must  learn  to  defend  ourselves.  We  must  seize  the 
powers  of  government  and  defend  our  class — everywhere. 

Brothers,  my  American  brothers,  brothers  of  all  the  world, 
— if  you  have  minds  exercise  them — for  your  own  class;  if 
you  have  pride,  shov/  it — for  your  class;  if  you  have  loyalty, 
prove  it — for  your  class ;  if  you  have  power,  use  it — use  it  in 
self-defense — for  your  class;  if  you  can  climb,  why,  climb, 
united  with  your  class  altogether — climb  out  of  hell,  the  hell 
of  capitalism. 

Divided,  your  masters  despise  you. 

United,  your  masters  dread  you. 

Get  together,  brothers,  and  get  up  off  your  knees. 

Refuse  to  go  to  hell — the  hell  of  war. 

Eefuse  to  stay  in  hell — the  hell  of  capitalist  industry. 

Unite !     For  peace  and  freedom — unite ! 

Form,  toilers,  form! 

Organize ! 

A  solid  front  on  the  battlefield — of  industry. 

A  solid  front  on  the  battlefield — of  politics. 

A  suggestion:  Let  each  one  of  a  hundred  thousand  men 
and  women  patiently  and  repeatedly  bear  light  to  the  brain 
of  one  new  man  or  woman  each  month  for  two  years,  and 
teach  each  new  man  to  become  a  teacher  of  other  men  and 
womerii.  Get  some  good  book,  a  book  that  burns,  a  book  that 
kindles  a  passion  for  freedom  and  justice;  and  lend  that 
book  to  a  new  person  each  month  till  the  book  is  worn  out* 

Light  a  lamp  in  your  neighbor's  brain. 

Strike  a  fire  in  your  neighbor's  heart. 

Revolutionize  him. 

Dare. 

To-day. 

Society  is,  and  always  will  be — as  free  as  the  majority 
have  sense  enough  and  pride  enough  to  make  it ;  or  as  tyran- 
nical as  the  majority  are  meek  enough  to  permit  it  to  be. 

Conditions  always  express  the  will  or  lack  of  will  of  the 
majority. 


See  "What  to  Read,"  Chapter  Twelve, 


CHAPTER   SIX. 
Tricked  to  the  Trenches — Then  Snubbed. 

"On  the  whole,  the  patriotism  of  the  average  citizen  rises  and 
falls  inversely  with  the  Income  Tax;  .  .  ."* 

Imagine  J.  P.  Morgan,  rifle  in  liand,  doing  picket  duty 
on  a  dark,  sleet-drizzling  night.  Imagine  J.  Ogden  Armour, 
George  Gould  and  Thomas  F.  Eyan  with  heavy  shovels  dig- 
ging trenches,  stopping  at  noon  to  eat  some  salt  pork,  em- 
balmed beef  and  stale  crackers.  Imagine  Reggie  Vanderbilt 
as  a  freighter  hurrying  rations  to  the  front  and  taking  care 
of  six  mud-covered  horses  at  night.  Imagine  the  strong 
younger  John  D.  Rockefeller  on  the  firing  line  with  his  breast 
exposed  to  the  hellish  rain  of  lead  from  a  Gatling  gun.  Yes, 
indeed, — just  imagine  a  whole  regiment  of  big  bankers  and 
manufacturers  dressed  in  khaki,  breakfasting  on  beans  and 
bacon,  then  rushing  sword  in  hand  to  storm  a  cannon-bristled 
fort  belching  fire  and  lead  and  steel  into  their  smooth,  smug 
faces — for  fifty  cents  a  day. 

Brother,  when  you  are  ordered  to  the  front  just  glance 
around  and  notice  the  noisily  patriotic  gentlemen  who  keep 
to  the  rear — at  home  where  it  is  safe  and  delightfully  quiet. 
These  patriots  in  the  rear  will  sweetly  say,  "See  you  later !" 
If  you  ever  get  back  from  the  war,  they  will  see  you  when 
they  flatteringly  give  you  a  "welcome  home,"  Mark  you : 
When  war  breaks  out  these  'Tjest  people"  do  not  say,  "Come 
on,  boys,  come  on — follow  us."  Hardly.  It  is  "Go  on,  boys, 
go  aliead,  go  right  on.  We  will  be  with  you."  That  is,  they 
will  be  with  you  as  far  as  the  railway  station,  and  after  that 
these  "prominent  people"  will  give  the  "brave  boys"  absent 
treatment. 

The  man  in  the  factory  and  in  the  mine  is  the  "hand," 
the  "hired  hand,"  of  capitalist  society ;  and  when  he  shoulders 


*  J.  H.  Rose:  The  Development  of  the  European  Nations,  1870- 
1900,  Vol.  II.,  p.  328. 


108  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

a  rifle  for  military  service  he  becomes  the  steel-toothed  jaw 
of  capitalist  society.    Soldiers  are  to  the  capitalist  class 

WHAT    TEETH    ARE    TO    TIGERS    AND    BEAKS     ARE     TO     EAGLES. 

Soldiers  are  often  called  the  "dogs  of  war";  and  they  are, 
indeed,  the  watchdogs  of  capitalism — with  barracks,  armories 
and  tents  for  kennels.  Bankers,  manufacturers,  mine  owners 
and  the  like  despise  the  very  thought  of  living  themselves  in 
the  military  "war-dog"  kennels.  Such  men  can  not  be  tricked 
to  the  tents  and  trenches. 

In  wheedling  young  men  to  join  the  army  and  the  navy 
the  National  Government  is  hard  put  to  it;  must  even  make 
fun  of  the  poverty  and  ignorance  of  the  humble  toilers  in  the 
industries — and  openly  sneers  at  them.  Here  is  a  sample  of 
the  vile  means  used  by  the  Government  to  shame  green  young 
fellows  into  the  army  and  the  navy.* 

"WANTED— for  the  United  States  Marine  Corps— Able-bodied 
men  who  wish  to  see  the  world.  .  .  . 

"Regular  pay  $12.80 

"Post  Mechanics,  fifty  cents  per  day 13.00 

*Total     $25.80 

"Which  is  better  for  a  young  man  who  can  never  hope  to  travel 
on  his  own  account:  to  enlist  in  the  Marine  Corps  for  four  years 
.  .  .  where  he  will  be  able  to  see  a  great  portion  of  the  world  and 
perform  a  loyal  duty  to  his  country, — or,  to  drudge  aicay  on  the 
farm,  in  the  shop  and  various  other  places,  for  from  ten  to  fifteen 
hours  per  day  in  all  kinds  of  weather,  and  at  the  end  of  the  month 
or  better  still,  of  four  years,  not  have  as  much  clear  cash  to  show 
for  all  his  hard  and  wearisome  labor  as  he  would  have,  had  he 
enlisted?  ...  he  [the  enlisted  man]  is  always  clean." 

There  you  have  it,  young  farmer,  young  mechanic:  the 
Government  throws  it  right  into  your  teeth — the  sneer  that 
as  a  wa^re-earner  in  the  shop  and  mine  and  on  the  farm,  you 
are  cornered;  that  with  all  your  toiling  and  sweating  you 
will   always   be   a   "dirty-faced  tender-foot"   living   humbly 


*  Copied  from  a  Government  advertisement  in  front  of  re- 
cruiting headquarters  in  Allegheny,  Pennsylvania,  September  7,  1907. 
Italics  mine.  G.  R.  K.  This  same  form  of  advertisement  has  also 
been  used  in  many  other  cities. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  109 

around  the  old  home  place,  never  having  opportunity  to  see 
the  world  you  live  in;  that  you  can  not  even  hope  to  travel 
on  your  own  account,  simply  because  as  a  wa^e-earner  you 
don't  own  enough  of  "your"  country — you  can  not  get  ahead 
far  enough  financially — to  enable  you  to  do  so.  If  you  want 
to  see  the  world  you  will  have  to  join  the  butchers  in  the 
service  of  the  rulers.  In  its  effort  to  tease  and  trick  you 
aboard  its  great  warships,  into  the  "armed  guard"  work,  your 
own  Government  makes  fun  of  your  humble  income  and 
taunts  you  for  always  staying  around  home  like  a  "sissy  boy." 
The  Government  also  tells  you  that  your  face  is  dirty  and 
that  a  military  man's  face  "is  always  clean."  The  Govern- 
ment's advertisement  just  quoted  is  like  the  sneer  at  the 
soldier's  poverty  by  that  elegant  aristocrat,  Kalph  Waldo 
Emerson  :* 

"Where  there  is  no  property  the  people  will  put  on  the  knap- 
sack for  bread." 

Think  of  ten  million  five  hundred  thousand  trained  strong 
men  in  five  European  countries  ready  to  leap  into  the 
trenches  at  the  word  of  command.  *In  a  war  between  the 
Dual  Alliance  and  the  Triple  Alliance  there  would  be  over 
ten  million  men  under  arms,  thus  if 

Germany    2,500,000 

Austria    1,300,000 

Italy   1,300,000 

France 2,500,000 

Eussia   2,800,000 

Total 10,400,000' 

These  would  not  so  much  be  tricked  to  the  trenches  as 
they  would  be  forced  to  the  trenches.  Emperor  William  of 
Germany  at  Potsdam,  in  November,  1891,  addressed  the 
young  men  who  had  just  been  compelled  to  take  the  military 
oath.    He  said: 

"You  are  now  my  soldiers,  you  have  given  yourselves  to  me 

*  "Lecture  on  War." 

t  See  Blocb :  Future  of  War,  Preface  XXXII. 


110  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

body  and  soul.  There  is  but  one  enemy  for  you,  and  that  is  my 
enemy.  ...  It  may  happen  that  I  shall  order  you  to  fire  on  your 
brothers  and  fathers.  .  .  .  But  in  such  case  you  are  bound  to  obey 
me  without  a  murmur."* 

Think  of  ten  or  fifteen  million  men  ready  to  be  forced  or 
tricked  to  war  to  do  the  bidding  of  rulers  whom  these  hig 
strong  men  outnumber  ten  thousand  to  one;  ready  to  do  the 
Ijidding  of  a  coterie  of  parasitic  cowards ;  ready — cheap,  weak, 
humble  and  contemptible — ready  to  scramble  to  the  trenches 
and  obey  the  murderers'  orders:  "Kill!  Kill!  Kill!  Kill! 
Slay !  Slaughter !  Butcher !" 

That  millions  of  strong  men  should,  like  whipped  dogs, 
grovel  on  the  ground  before  their  masters  and  fight  at  the 
word  of  command — this,  of  course,  is  ridiculous ;  and  natural- 
ly these  millions  of  meek,  weak,  prideless,  grovelling  com- 
mon soldiers — all  over  Europe — all  over  the  world — are  held 
socially  in  supreme  contempt  by  the  political  and  industrial 
masters  of  society.  But  whether  the  soldier  is  conscripted, 
"drafted,"  or  volunteers  to  serve,  the  masters'  contempt  is 
complete. 

The  soldiers  during  a  war,  the  workers  who  support  a 
war,  and  both  the  soldiers  and  the  toilers  after  a  war — are 
held  in  contempt  even  by  those  who  praise  them  most.  It 
will  help  somewhat  in  realizing  this  to  make  a  short  study  of 
several  actual  cases  as  illustrations.  The  examples  following 
are,  most  of  them,  from  English  and  from  American  history. 
In  all  the  illustrations  the  mocking  insincerity  of  the  profit- 
lusting,  long-distance  patriot  is  easily  seen. 

First  Illustration  :  The  English  in  the  Napoleonic 
Wars,  and  in  the  Boer  War. 

Never  in  modern  times  did  a  nation  of  toilers  longer  or 
more  loyally  support  a  war  than  did  the  working  class  of 
England  support  the  British  Government  in  the  Napoleonic 
Wars — a  fifth  of  a  century  of  continuous  blood-letting.  Never 
before  or  since  did  the  working  class  of  a  nation  longer  or 

*  See  Charles  Seignobos:  The  Political  History  of  Europe 
Since  1815,  p.  504. 


TJRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  Ill 

more  gladly  give  up  its  choicest  men  to  butcher  and  be 
butchered  than  did  the  English  working  class  for  the  Napole- 
onic Wars.  Never  did  men  serve  more  loyally  or  longer  or 
fight  more  bravely.  This  long  storm  of  death  closed  with  the 
awful  Battle  of  Waterloo  in  1815. 

After  such  service  we  might  expect  the  patriotic  capital- 
ists of  England  to  be  most  thoughtfully  and  finely  kind  to  the 
toilers  who  supported  the  wars  and  to  the  veterans  who  fought 
the  wars. 

But  what  happened  ? 

After  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  leaving  tens  of  thousands  of 
their  comrades  on  the  skull-strewn  plains  of  the  Continent, 
the  hypnotized  veterans — scarred,  ragged  and  proud — re- 
turned home — home  from  hell — returned  to  England  with 
glad  hearts  ignorantly  and  gullibly  expecting  a  joyous  "wel- 
come home"  by  the  masters  who  had  flattered,  brutalized, 
ruled,  and  used  them.  Welcome  home !  The  cruel  mockery 
of  it !  The  hideous  irony  of  the  masters'  prompt  treatment 
of  them !  Promptly  these  brave  and  ignorant  men  from  the 
battlefields  were  openly  scorned  and  threatened  by  the  indus- 
trial masters  of  England.  Never  were  masters  more  cruel 
toward  deluded  veteran  patriots.  Never  were  masters  more 
heartless  toward  millions  of  half-starved  toilers — ^than  were 
the  British  masters  toward  the  half-starved  ragged  British 
workers  whose  labor  had  supported  the  army  in  the  field  for 
twenty  years. 

Promptly  at  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars  a  movement 

was  made  in  the  British  Parliament  to  relieve  the  leisure 

class  of  one-half  the  income  tax,  but  none  was  made  to  ease 

the  burdens  of  the  starving  working  class.     There  was  biting 

irony  in  the  fact  that 

"One  of  the  first  parliamentary  struggles  [following  the  war] 
was  the  proposal  of  the  government  to  reduce  the  income  tax  from 
10  to  5  per  cent.,  and  to  apply  this  half  [the  unremitted  half]  of  it, 
producing  about  $37,500,000,  toward  the  expense  of  maintaining  a 
standing  army  of  150,000  men."* 


*  See  Brodrick   and   Frotheringham :      The  Political  History  of 
England,  Vol.  XI.,  p.  172,  et  seq. 


112  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Of  course  the  purpose  of  this  to-be-increased  army  was  to 
have  an  armed  guard  ready  to  crush  the  "hoho"  heroes  home 
from  the  war  and  unemployed,  ready  also  to  hold  down  the 
great  multitude  of  poorly  paid  or  unemployed  toilers — all 
now  loudly  complaining  against  the  increasing  misery  thrust 
into  their  lives. 

The  landlords  at  once  advanced  the  land  rents  and  the 
house  rents  so  outrageously  that  many  thousands  of  feeble 
working  class  veterans  were  forced  into  trampdom,  and  were 
then  brutally  abused  for  vagrancy.  The  huge  and  hungry 
army  of  the  unemployed  actually  found  that  in  some  ways 
peace  was,  at  that  time,  even  worse  than  war — for  the  work- 
ing class. 

This  outrageous  treatment,  this  brutal  contempt  for  the 
workers  from  their  pretentiously  patriotic  rulers  may  seem 
to  the  reader  impossible.  The  case,  however,  is  so  typical  as 
to  be  worth  space  for  evidence.  And  here  is  some  testimony 
from  witnesses  not  prejudiced,  perhaps,  in  favor  of  the  work- 
ers. Professor  J.  E.  Thorold  Rogers  writes  thus  of  the  mat- 
ter:* 

"In  point  of  fact,  the  sufferings  of  the  working  classes  ( in 
England)  during  this  dismal  period  [the  first  twenty  years  of  the 
nineteenth  century]  .  .  .  were  certainly  intensified  by  the  harsh  par- 
tiality of  the  law;  but  they  were  due  in  the  main  to  deeper  causes. 
Thousands  of  homes  were  starved  in  order  to  find  means  to  support 
the  great  war,  the  cost  of  which  was  really  supported  by  the  labor 
of  those  who  toiled  on  and  earned  the  wealth  which  was  lavished 
freely,  and  at  a  good  rate  of  interest  for  the  lenders,  by  the  govern- 
ment. The  enormous  taxation  and  the  gigantic  loans  came  from 
the  store  of  accumulated  capital,  which  the  employers  wrung  from 
the  poor  wages  of  labor,  or  the  landlords  extracted  from  the  grow- 
ing grains  of  their  tenants.  To  outward  appearance,  the  strife  was 
waged  by  armies  and  generals;  but  in  reality  the  resources  on 
which  the  struggle  was  based  were  the  stint  and  starvation  of 
labor,  the  over-taxed  and  under-fed  toils  of  childhood,  the  under- 
paid and  uncertain  employment  of  men.  Wages  were  mulcted  in 
order  to  provide  the  waste  of  war,  and  the  profits  of  commerce  and 
manufacture." 


Worl:  and  Wages,  p.  507. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  113 

The  case  is  summed  up  by  another  authority  :* 

"Distress  instead  of  plenty,  misery  instead  of  comfort — ^these 
were  the  first  results  of  peace." 

The  English  historian,  J.  R.  Green,  is  thus  frank  rf 

"The  war  enriched  the  landowner,  the  farmer,  the  merchant,  the 
manufacturer;  but  it  impoverished  the  poor.  It  is  indeed  from 
these  fatal  years  that  we  must  date  that  war  of  the  classes,  that 
social  severance  between  employers  and  employed,  which  still  forms 
the  main  difficulty  of  English  politics." 

S.  R.  Gardiner  furnishes  this  testimony: J 

"Towards  the  end  of  1816  riots  broke  out  in  many  places, 
which  were  put  down.  ,  .  .  The  government  ignored  the  part  which 
physical  distress  played  in  promoting  the  disturbances.  .  .  .  The 
Manchester  Massacre  ...  a  vast  meeting  of  at  least  50,000  gathered 
on  August  16,  1816,  in  St.  Peter's  Field,  Manchester.  .  .  .  The  Hus- 
sars charged,  and  the  weight  of  disciplined  soldiery  drove  the  crowd 
into  a  huddled  mass  of  shrieking  fugitives,  pressed  together  by  their 
eflForts  to  escape.  When  at  last  the  ground  was  cleared  many  vic- 
tims were  piled  one  upon  another." 

The  people  who  had  fed  and  clothed  and  armed  the 
soldiers,  were  now  cut  down  and  trampled  down  in  heaps  by 
mounted  soldiers.  The  historians  Brodrick  and  Frothering^ 
ham  summarize  the  matter  as  follows  :§ 

"Four  troops  of  Hussars  then  made  a  dashing  charge  .  .  .  the 
people  fled  in  wild  confusion  before  them;  some  were  cut  down,  more 
were  trampled  down;  an  eye-witness  describes  'several  mounds  of 
human  beings  lying  where  they  had  fallen.' " 

Justin  McCarthy's  statement  of  the  case  is  instructive :  || 

"There  was  wide-spread  distress  [in  1816].  There  were  riots  in 
the  counties  of  England  arising  out  of  the  distress.  There  were 
riots  in  various  parts  of  London.  .  .  .  The  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was 
suspended.  ...  A  large  number  of  working  men  conceived  the  idea 


*  Jephson :  The  Platform — Its  Rise  and  Progress,  Vol.  I.,  p.  283- 

t  History  of  the  English  People,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  377. 

t  A  Student's  History  of  England,  pp.  877-80. 

§  The  Political  History  of  England,  Vol.  XI.,  Ch.  8. 

II  Sir  Robert  Peel,  Ch.  3. 


114  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

of  walking  to  London  to  lay  an  account  of  their  distress  before 
the  lieads  of  government  [Perfectly  reasonable?].  .  .  .  The  nickname 
of  Blanketeers  was  given  to  them  because  of  their  portable  sleep- 
ing arrangements.  (Every  man  carried  a  blanket.)  .  .  .  The  'Mas- 
sacre of  Peterloo'  .  .  .  took  place  not  long  after.  ...  It  was  a  vast 
meeting — some  80,000  men  and  women  are  stated  to  have  been  pres- 
ent. .  .  .  The  yeomanry,  a  mounted  militia  force,  .  .  .  dashed  in  upon 
the  crowd,  spurring  their  horses  and  flourishing  their  sabres. 
Eleven  persons  were  killed  and  several  hundred  were  wounded.  The 
government  brought  in  •  .  .  the  famous  Six  Acts.  These  Acts  were 
simply  measures  to  render  it  more  easy  to  put  down  and  disperse 
meetings  .  .  .  and  to  suppress  any  manner  of  publication  which  they 
chose  to  call  seditious.  ...  It  was  the  conviction  of  the  ruling  class 
that  the  poor  and  the  working  classes  of  England  were  preparing 
a  revolution.  ...  In  1818,  a  motion  for  annual  parliaments  and 
universal  suffrage  was  lost  by  a  majority  of  106  to  nobody." 

Says  Professor  Jesse  Maey:* 

"By  a  series  of  repressive  measures  popular  agitation  was  ar- 
rested. .  .  .  Popular  agitation  was  brought  to  an  end  by  force.  So 
complete  was  the  repression  that  there  occurred  no  great  political 
consequences  until  the  movement  which  carried  the  Reform  Bill 
[1832]." 

"Silence !"  is  always  the  order  of  despotism  when  the 
"bruised  lips"  of  starving  slaves  speak  loud  for  freedom. 

Thus  did  the  proud,  "patriotic"  masters  of  England  spit 
in  the  faces  of  the  starving  working  class  who  supported  the 
war  and  laugh  to  scorn  the  old  working  class  soldiers  who  had 
fought  the  long  and  horrible  war.  Thus  were  the  battle- 
scarred  heroes — and  their  families — sabred  and  bayoneted. 
Thus  were  some  of  the  rights  they  already  had,  torn  from  their 
hands.  Thus  were  they  denied  a  voice  in  the  government  they 
served.  Thus  were  the  toilers  and  veterans  outraged — duped, 
despised,  snubbed — during  and  after  the  "glorious"  Napole- 
onic wars. 

The  shameless  Caesars  who  constituted  the  English  gov- 
ernment of  the  time  heaped  wrong  upon  wrong  by  sending 
police  spies  into  the  great  public  meetings  of  the  ragged  vet- 
erans of  war  and  industry  to  stir  them  up  to  violence,  thus 


The  English  Constitution,  p.  423.    Italics  mine.    G.  R.  K. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  115 

furnishing    the   government    excuse   for   Us   brutalities   and 
repressive  legislation* 

An  anonymous  author  furnishes  interesting  fact  and  com- 
ment rf 

"The  world  will  have  to  revise  its  notions  of  patriotism  in  the 
light  of  modern  commerce.  .  .  .  Look  at  the  strength  of  the  interests. 
Where  is  the  Government  that  would  dare  prohibit  Birmingham 
firms  from  executing  [filling]  orders  for  a  foreign  Government? 
Even  in  our  small  frontier  wars  [British]  soldiers  must  expect  to 
be  shot  at  with  British  rifles." 

At  one  time  in  the  Napoleonic  wars  English  manufactur- 
ers, '^patriotic  business  men,"  of  course,  filled  one  order  for 
16,000  military  coats,  37,000  jackets,  and  200,000  pairs  of 
shoes  to  be  used,  as  the  commercial  patriots  knew,  by  the 
French  army  while  slaughtering  English  soldiers.^  That 
was  about  a  hundred  years  ago.  But  the  silk-hat  patriot  is 
still  the  same  hypocrite,  talking  loudly  about  "honoring  the 
hero"  whom  he  despises  both  socially  and  industrially.  Brit- 
ish veterans  of  the  Boer  War  of  recent  years — tens  of  thou- 
sands of  them — have  cursed  the  day  they  enlisted,  with  the 
patriotism  of  ignorance,  to  serve  in  South  Africa.  The  Gov- 
ernment broke  its  promises  with  them  shamelessly  and  whole- 
sale; and  many  of  these  veterans,  on  returning  from  the  war, 
were  scorned  at  the  English  factory  door,  turned  down  at  the 
shops  and  mines,  and  had  to  beg  on  the  streets  of  London 
and  other  cities.  It  is  the  old  story:  duped,  tricked,  teased 
to  the  trenches — then  snubbed,  as  usual. 

When  the  soldier  boys  got  back  to  England  from  the  Boer 
war  they  were  weak,  poor,  ragged  and  very  weary,  many  hun- 
dreds of  them  scarcely  able  to  walk.     But  no  matter:  they 


*  See,  for  example,  J.  F.  Bright:  A  History  of  England,  Period 
III.,  p.  1352. 

■f  Arbeiter  in  Council,  p.  501. 

t  Bourienne's  Memoirs,  Vol.  VII.,  c.  20.  Reference  in  Arheiter 
in  Council,  p.  499.  For  cases  equally  monstrous  in  the  American 
Civil  War  history,  see  Myers'  History  of  Great  American  Fortunes, 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  127-38,  291-301;  Chapters  11  and  12;  Vol.  III.,  pp.  160- 
176. 


116  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

were  at  once  driven  from  the  ships  like  cattle,  forced  to  fall 
into  line,  and  march  wavering  and  staggering  from  weakness 
and  weariness — forced  to  march  past  the  Queen's  reviewing 
stand,  to  be  smiled  at  and  flattered  by  a  l)imch  of  royal  and 
noble  parasites  and  thus  be  "honored"  while  they  starved, 
"honored"  as  they  staggered  past  in  their  rags,  gazed  at  by 
shining  gluttons  and  fat-headed  lords  who  were  too  shrewd 
and  cowardly  to  go  themselves  to  South  Africa  to  slaughter 
the  Boers,  steal  gold  and  diamond  mines  and  otherwise  defend 
their  own  capitalist  interests. 

On  this  cruel  reviewing  march  of  many  weary  miles  past 
the  Queen  of  the  home-coming  butchers  a  great  number  of 
the  men  fainted  in  their  famished  weakness.  Many  eye-wit- 
nesses to  this  outrage  were  in  tears.  .  .  . 

The  march  ended. 

The  guns  were  put  away  with  pride. 

The  blood  of  Dutch  workingmen  was  wiped  from  the 
English  swords — with  British  pride. 

Blood-stained  banners  were  piously  placed  in  libraries, 
museums,  and  churches — with  true  Christian  pride. 

The  war  was  over. 

The  butchers  had  come  back  to  'Hlieir"  dear  country — and 
washed  their  hands. 

Then— then  what? 

Then  these  cheap  and  stupid  assassins  of  their  class  went 
to  looh  for  a  job — teased  the  lordly  parasites  of  England  for 
whom  they  had  been  fighting — teased  them  for  a  job,  whined 
like  spaniels  at  the  feet  of  the  industrial  masters  of  England, 
begged  for  a  job. 

And  received  insults. 

A  JOB  IS  NOT  GUARANTEED  BY  ANY  CAPITALIST  CONSTITU- 
TION ON  ALL  THE  EARTH^  EVEN  THO'  A  JOB  MAY  MEAN 
SALVATION   FROM    STARVATION. 

A  hunting  dog,  having  found  the  shot-mangled  bird  in 
the  grass  and  briars,  brings  the  game  to  his  master  confident 
of  substantial  favors — and  gets  the  favors. 

These  English  human  hunting  dogs  had  obediently  hunted 


I 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  117 

human  game  in  South  Africa,  and  they  returned  to  their 
masters,  their  faces  shining  with  the  expectancy  (and,  almost, 
■with  the  intelligence)  of  a  retriever  with  a  bleeding  bird  in 
his  mouth. 

And  they  were  slapped  in  the  face  at  the  factory  door  with 
"Not  wanted !" 

Snubbed. 

"Honored."  "Eeviewed."  Eeviewed  ?  Certainly.  That 
is  part  rule-by-wind  trick. 

Flattered — ^then  kicked  in  the  face  when  they  asked  for 
permission  to  work  and  by  work  save  their  own  lives  from 
the  wolves  of  poverty. 

*A  nod  from  a  lord  is  a  breakfast— /or  a  fool." 


li , 


Second  Illustration  :  The  Americsan  Working  Class 
Eevolutionists  : 

The  American  working  class  soldiers  a  hundred  and 
twenty-five  years  ago  were  also  equally  despised  by  the  indus- 
trial and  political  masters  of  that  time.  The  poor  men,  the 
working  class  men,  in  Washington's  army  after  fighting  for 
years,  half  starved,  always  in  rags,  sleeping  in  wind-swept 
tents  at  night,  oftentimes  shoeless,  making  bloody  tracks  in 
the  snow  and  on  the  ice  as  they  marched, — these  battle-scarred 
veterans  of  the  working  class,  after  fighting  for  years  in  the 
"great  Revolutionary  War  for  freedom," — these  were  not  per- 
mitted to  vote  for  many  years  after  the  war.  It  was  not, 
indeed,  till  many  years  after  the  adoption  of  the  "great"  new 
Federal  Constitution  of  the  "free"'  people  that  these  humble 
working  class  veterans  were  permitted  to  take  part  as  voters 
in  the  government. 

This  was  contempt  supreme.  Tricked  to  the  "war  for 
freedom" — then,  after  "glorious  victory,"  snubbed,  as  usual. 

Of  course,  this  page  of  "splendid"  Revolutionary  War 
history,  this  bright  particular  page  of  unqualified  contempt 
of  the  so-called  "great  leaders"  for  the  working  class  soldiers 
after  the  fighting  was  all  over — this  page  is  shrewdly  hidden 
from  the  working  class  children  in  the  common  schools,  the 


118  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

grammar  schools  and  high  schools  of  the  United  States, — ^ 
this  page  is  practically  suppressed.  The  working  class  child 
in  the  public  school  is  wheedled  into  being  a  blind  devotee  of 
the  "great"  Constitution  and  an  ignorant  worshipper  of  the 
"great  men"  who  so  cordially  despised  the  men  of  the  class 
to  which  the  child  belongs.  There  is  plenty  of  evidence,  how- 
ever, that  these  "prominent"  and  "very  best  people"  of  Ameri- 
can Eevolutionary  War  times  had  nothing  but  political  con- 
tempt for  the  working  class  veterans.  President  Woodrow 
Wilson  (Princeton  University)  writes:* 

"There  were  probably  not  more  than  120,000  men  who  had  a 
right  to  vote  out  of  all  the  4,000,00U  inhabitants  enumerated  at  the 
first  census  [1790]." 

The  political  and  social  contempt  felt  for  the  poor  men 
of  the  times  of  George  Washington  is  made  clear  by  Profes- 
sor F.  N.  Thorpe  (University  of  Pennsylvania)   thusrf 

"An  unparalleled  political  enfranchisement  [from  1800  to  1900] 
extended  the  right  to  vote,  which  in  1796  reposed  in  only  one- 
twentieth  of  the  population,  but  a  century  later  in  one-sixth  of  it — 
the  nearest  approach  to  universal  suifrage  in  history." 

This  same  scorn  for  the  thirteen-dollar-a-month  men,  who 
do  the  actual  fighting,  is  seen  in  one  form  or  another  in  the 
more  recent  American  wars.  The  purse-proud  rulers  of  the 
present  day  are  so  blatant  in  their  expressions  of  patriotic 
admiration  for  the  "brave  boys"  that  the  following  illustra- 
tions are  deemed  worthy  of  the  space  required  for  their  presen- 
tation— ^in  order  that  the  working  class  reader  may  not  fail 
to  recognize  the  mocking  hypocrite  in  the  gold-lust  patriotic 
shouters  who  now  decorate  their  palaces  on  holidays  with 
"Old  Glory." 

Third  Illustration  :  The  American  Civil  War — The 
Bankers  and  "Promoters" — and  the  Boys  in  Blue  : 

Thousands  of  Union  veterans  have  declared :  "The  Ameri- 
can Civil  War  was  a  rich  man's  war  and  a  poor  man*s  fight. 

*  History  of  the  American  People,  Vol.  III.,  p.  120. 
■f  A  History  of  the  American  People,  p.  556. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  119 

We  were  duped.  But  we  shall  never  be  duped  again."  (See 
Chapter  VII.,  Sections  14  to  16.) 

The  volunteer  Union  soldiers  who,  at  Lincoln's  first  call, 
hurried  to  enlist  for  the  war,  understood  distinctly  that  the 
government  would  pay  them  "m  gold  or  its  equivcUent."  But 
the  soldiers  were  forced  to  accept  even  their  puny  43  cents  a 
day  in  greenbacks  containing  the  famous  "exception  clause," 
which  clause  destroyed  from  20  to  more  than  65  per  cent,  of 
the  purchasing  power  of  the  money  during  the  war  and  for 
years  following  the  war.  But  the  silk-hatted  patriots,  the 
"leading  citizen"  manufacturers,  the  bankers  and  the  heroic 
sharks  in  Congress  at  the  time,  these  who  issued  greenbacks 
and  bought  Government  bonds,  these  noble  gentlemen  not 
only  despised  the  very  money  they  forced  the  soldiers  to  taJce 
for  fighting,  but,  at  the  same  time,  arranged,  virtually,  for 
an  iron-clad  agreement  that  not  only  the  principal  of,  but  also 
the  interest  on,  the  Government  bonds  they  "patriotically" 
bought,  must  be  paid  in  gold.*  Gold  for  the  patriot  in 
business — "rag  money"  for  the  patriots  in  the  trenches.  At 
one  time,  owing  to  the  "exception  clause"  on  the  paper  money 
forced  upon  the  soldiers,  one  gold  dollar  would  buy  as  much 
as  two  dollars  and  eighty-five  cents  of  paper  money.  Of 
course,  the  soldiers  and  the  "common  people"  complained 
loudly.    Says  a  high  authority  if 

"Much  opposition  was  caused  by  the  clause  inserted  by  the 
Senate,  which  provided  for  payment  of  interest  on  bonds  in  coin, 
which  practically  meant  discrimination  in  favor  of  one  class  of 
creditors,  and,  as  Stevens  said,  'depreciated  at  once  the  money 
which  the  bill  created.' " 


*  "Apart  from  the  phraseology  of  the  statutes  it  appears  during 
the  early  years  of  the  War  the  possibility  of  the  payment  of  the 
bonds  in  other  than  coin  was  hardly  raised.  According  to  the  ex- 
plicit statement  of  Garfield  in  1868,  when  the  original  five-twenty 
bond  bill  was  before  the  House  in  1862,  all  who  referred  to  the  sub- 
ject stated  that  the  principal  of  these  bonds  was  payable  in  gold, 
and  coin  payment  was  the  understanding  of  every  member  of  the 
committee  of  ways  and  means.  ...  It  thus  became  practically  an 
unwritten  law  to  pay  the  obligations  of  the  United  States  in  coin." 
— Dewey:    Financial  History  of  the  United  States,  paragraph   148. 

I  Hepburn:   The  Contest  for  Sound  Money,  p.  188. 


120  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

The  Wall  Street  patriots  never  miss  an  opportunity  to 
remind  us  with  great  show  of  pride  that  they  "furnished  the 
money  with  which  to  carry  on  the  Civil  War."  They  did 
furnish  a  good  deal  of  money,  and  like  true  patriotic  Shylocks 
they  took  blood-sealed,  interest -bearing  bonds  in  exchange  for 
their  cash.  On  every  possible  occasion  the  bonds  were  bought 
at  such  a  sacrifice  price  as  to  almost  bleed  the  nation  to  death 
in  the  presence  of  its  enemies.  Dr.  H.  C.  Adams  (University 
of  Michigan,  Department  of  Finance)  aays  :*  That,  "estimat- 
ed on  the  average  price  of  gold,"  the  Federal  Government, 
"for  the  forty-five  months  of  the  Civil  War"  realized  from 
public  obligations  of  all  sorts  less  than  67  per  cent.  That  is 
to  say,  certain  bloodless  patriots'  lack  of  faith  and  their  desire 
also  to  "push  a  good  thing"  and  take  at  least  a  "full  pound 
of  flesh" — resulted  in  their  dear  Government's  loss  of  blood 
in  its  financial  transactions  to  the  extent  of  more  than  33  per 
cent. 

This  disastrous  shrinkage  was  due  unquestionably  in  a 
very  large  measure  to  the  bankers'  manipulation  of  the  Gov- 
ernment's financial  affairs  for  their  own  private  benefit. 
These  glittering  Shylocks  were  beautifully,  even  prayerfully, 
enthusiastic  in  their  hand-clapping  for  their  dear  country's 
welfare;  and  yet  they  showed  almost  perfect  emotional  self- 
control.  Mr.  Lincoln  hated  their  gold-lust  "patriotism,"  but 
he  was  compelled  to  bow  low  before  their  power.  The  lov- 
ingly patriotic  embrace  which  our  country  received  from  the 
bond-leech  capitalists  during  the  Civil  War  clearly  revealed 
their  amiable  intention  to  bleed  their  country  just  as  nearly 
to  death  as  possible — and  yet  not  hill  it  lest  the  precious 
goose  should  cease  to  lay  such  interesting  eggs. 

Your  "patriotic"  war-bond  buyer  is  a  temperamentally 
calm  person. 

Some  citizens  bleed  for  their  country,  others  bleed  their 

country, 

"Guard  against  the  impostures  of  patriotism." — George  Wash- 
ington.f 

*  Finance,  p.  540,  also  Public  Dehts,  p.  131. 
■j-Rice:  The  Father  of  His  Country — Year  Book. 


i 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  121 

Professor  J.  E.  Thorold  Rogers*  states  as  follows  the 
spirit  of  much  of  the  argument  in  the  British  Parliament, 
even  by  many  conservatives,  concerning  the  bond-leech  pa- 
triots who  purchased  British  Napoleonic  War  bonds: 

"But  we  have  to  endure,  in  addition  to  our  misfortunes,  the 
sight  of  the  stock-jobbers  and  fund-holders,  who  have  fattened  on 
our  misery,  and  are  now  receiving  more  than  half  our  taxes.  And 
for  what?  We  have  put  down  the  Corsican  usurper,  and  restored 
peace  to  Europe,  legitimacy  to  its  thrones.  These  people  [the  bond- 
holders] not  only  get  under  our  funding  system  at  par,  stock,  with  a 
number  of  incidental  advantages,  in  exchange  for  some  £50  or  less, 
but  they  paid  [even]  this  inadequate  quota  in  notes  which  were 
constantly  at  a  discount  of  30  per  cent.  It  is  intolerable,  it  is 
unjust,  that  toe  should  redeem  such  stock  under  the  terms  of  so 
monstrous  and  one-sided  a  bargain." 

Perhaps,  reader,  you  are  one  of  the  old  gray  men  who 
"fought  under  Grant  and  are  proud  of  it."  I  do  not  criticize 
you,  gray  old  man.  I  am  offering  you  and  younger  men 
things  to  think  about.  A  distinguished  historian  assures  us 
that  there  were  at  one  time  during  the  War  one  hundred  and 
fifty  bankers  in  Congress.  Inside  and  outside  of  Congress 
these,  and  other  leading-citizen  Mammonites,  connived  to 
bleed  you  and  bleed  the  nation — utterly  without  shame.  They 
alarmed  President  Lincoln  repeatedly.  They  never  let  up  in 
their  swinish  scramble  for  gold  during  the  War.  And  after 
the  War  they  continued  their  unholy  manoeuvring — patriot- 
ically. For  example,  at  one  time  following  the  War,  after 
you  soldiers  had  elected  your  General  to  the  Presidency,  these 
blushless  blood-suckers  sought  to  corner  the  gold  market  and 
thus  scoop  up  a  barrel  of  profits.  To  accomplish  this  it  was 
necessary  to  have  the  President  out  of  the  way  for  a  short 
time  in  order  to  render  it  impossible  for  him  to  rush  to  the 
rescue  with  the  Federal  Treasury.  Read  their  plan  to  "turn 
the  trick"  in  the  words  of  a  Wall  Streeter  himself,  Mr.  Henry 
Clews  :t 


*  The  Economic  Interpretation  of  History,  p.  454.  Italics  mine. 
G.  R.  K. 

f  Twenty-Eight  Years  ( new  edition  Fifty  Years )  of  Wall  Street, 
p.  194. 


123  WAE—WHAT  FOR? 

"He  [Grant]  was  prevailed  upon  to  go  to  a  then  obscure  town  in 
Pennsylvania,  named  Little  Washington.  The  thing  was  so  ar- 
ranged that  his  feelings  were  worked  upon  to  visit  that  place  for 
the  purpose  of  seeing  an  old  friend  who  resided  there.  The  town  was 
cut  off  from  telegraphic  communication,  and  other  means  of  access 
were  not  very  convenient.  There  the  President  was  ensconced,  to 
remain  for  a  week  or  so  about  the  time  the  Cabal  was  fully  pre- 
pared for  action." 

Mr.  Henry  Clews'  own  case  is  so  finely  typical  of  the 
banker-buncombe-patriot  that  a  few  lines  may  profitably  be 
given  here  to  him  to  illustrate  his  class. 

This  glittering  patriot,  Mr.  Clews,  was  a  young  man 
when  the  Civil  War  broke  out.  His  young  heart — just  as  a 
banker's  heart  should  be,  for  business  purposes — was  warm 
with  the  holy  fervor  of  a  patriot.  He  loved  the  flag — ten- 
derly, of  course,  just  as  a  banker  always  loves  an  "attractive 
proposition."  The  war  was  an  opportunity — a  splendid  op- 
portunity— to  "make  money"  or  to  "fight  for  the  flag."  After 
much  patriotic  (and  no  doubt  prayerful)  meditation  he 
reached  the  conclusion  (his  first  fear  was  confirmed)  that  if 
he  went  to  the  war  he  might  unkindly  be  crowding  out  some 
other  young  fellow  who  also  wanted  to  "fight  for  the  flag."  So, 
just  as  a  banker  patriot  would  naturally  do,  he  modestly  de- 
cided to  stay  at  home  and  humbly  take  the  opportunity  to 
"make  money."  He  at  once  organized  a  bond-buying,  gold- 
lust  syndicate,  and  as  its  organizer  he  went  to  Washington  to 
buy  bonds — at  a  discount  (as  he  confesses),  tho'  believing 
there  ivas  to  he  only  a  mere  flurry  (as  he  confesses),  and 
especially  to  examine  carefully  (as  he  confesses)  into  the 
precise  degree  of  risk  assumed  in  buying  the  Government's 
bonds. 

Patriots  in  the  trenches  rish  all.  Patriots  in  the  bond- 
buying  business  are  not  that  kind;  and  they  study  the  risk 
with  great  care,  and  coolly  avoid  not  only  the  blood  risk,  but 
also  the  money  risk — ^with  skill,  also  with  patriotism. 

Calmly. 

It  seems  that  Mr.  Clews  went  to  Washington  on  a  night 
train.     He  relates  that  when  he  awoke  in  the  morning  he 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  123 

raised  the  car  window-shade  and  cautiously  peeped  out.*  He 
saw  a  long  line  of  cars  loaded  with  cannon.  He  was  aston- 
ished— he  confesses.  Naturally,  a  banker  is  afraid  of  a  can- 
non. "As  I  went  around  collecting  information,"  he  says, 
"the  sight  of  those  cannon  that  at  first  had  made  such  an 
indescribable  impression  upon  me  continued  to  haunt  my 
vision  wherever  I  went.  ...  I  felt  that  the  contest  would 
be  a  long  and  bloody  one.  ...  I  was  convinced  that  war  to 
the  knife  was  imminent,  and  that  Government  bonds  must 
have  a  serious  fall  in  consequence."  He  telegraphed  his  syn- 
dicate to  "sell  out"  and  "clear  the  decks,"  "to  unload,"t 

Note  that  as  soon  as  these  far-from-the-firing-line  patriots 
sniffed  danger  for  their  gold  they  were,  as  Mr.  Clews  virtually 
confesses,  ready  to  leave  the  Government  in  the  lurch  and 
let  the  boys  in  the  trenches  starve  till  the  bonds  could  be 
bought  at  a  strangle-hold  advantage  in  the  way  of  discounts. 
Mr.  Clews  relates,  with  unmanageable  pride,  that  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury  received  him  with  great  courtesy  and 
supplied  him  with  a  large  amount  of  useful  information — 
information  of  the  "inner"  "ground-floor"  sort  so  extremely 
helpful  to  the  organizer  of  a  bond-buying  syndicate ;  also  that 
the  information  and  suggestions  and  encouragements  he  re- 
ceived from  the  Secretary  were  really  the  beginning  of  what 
he,  with  blushingly  modest  confession  and  a  caress  for  him- 
self, calls  his  "brilliant  career." 


*  Mr.  Clews  relates  this  whole  matter  in  detail  in  his  Twenty- 
Eight  Years  in  Wall  Street  (new  edition  Fifty  Years,  etc.),  in 
which  noble  tome  naive  conceit  and  the  pleasures  of  self-contempla- 
tion beget  an  almost  equal  degree  of  incautious  loquacity  and  in- 
Eocent  candor. 

f  By  "clear  the  decks,"  and  "unload,"  when  financial  storms 
threaten,  bankers  mean  that  any  soon-to-shrink  stocks  and  bonds 
held  by  them  are  to  be  at  once  sold  to  (dumped  upon)  somebody 
else,  to  let  somebody  else  stand  the  certain  loss — just  as  a  sinful 
deacon  might  sell  to  his  neighboring  fellow-worshipper  a  horse  he 
was  sure  would  die  next  day,  or  as  an  enterprising  grocer  might 
sell  a  rotten  lemon  to  a  blind  child.  It  is  "legitimate."  It  is  "op- 
portunity." It  is  "business."  And  conscience  is  a  nuisance  to  some 
people  when  there  is  "opportunity"  to  do  "business." 


124  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Early  in  life  Mr.  Clews  made  a  profound  impression  upon 
himself — a  lasting  impression,  as  his  books  and  speeches  al- 
ways reveal;  a  not  uncommon  experience  with  "prominent 
people." 

Thus  Mr.  Clews  chose  the  humbler  and  more  healthful 
role  in  patriotism. 

Many  of  Mr.  Clews'  old  neighbors  (hot-headed  young  men 
of  the  War  time)  are  dead.  They  have  been  dead  a  long  time. 
Cannon  balls  tore  some  of  them  to  pieces.  Bayonets  were 
thrust  through  some  of  them.  Some  were  starved  to  death  in 
prisons.  Their  once  hot  blood  is  mold  now.  Long  ago  their 
flesh  was  eaten  by  the  battle-grave  worms.  Time  is  busy  in 
their  nameless  graves  gnawing  at  their  bones.  But,  now  fifty 
years  after  the  terrible  war  began,  Mr.  Clews  is  alive  and  well 
— he  even  boasts  of  his  good  health  and  often  gives  sugges- 
tions on  how  to  keep  one's  health  till  ripe  old  age. 

And  he  is  still  buying  bonds. 

His  special  delight  is  giving  advice  to — mankind. 

Mr.  Clews  lectures  frequently.  His  favorite  themes  are 
"patriotism,"  "the  stars  and  stripes,"  "the  man  behind  the 
gun," — and  "how  to  succeed."  He  is  a  sort  of  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  wind  for  patriots  in  the  "greenhorn"  stage. 

All  this  space  is  given  to  Mr.  Clews  simply  because  he  is 
so  perfectly  typical  of  the  shrewd  and  powerful  capitalist  class 
who  rule — rule  by  wind  and  a  pompous  manner  when  possible 
and  by  lead  and  steel  when  "necessary." 

His  case  should  be  explained  carefully  to  the  boys  and 
girls  of  the  working  class.  In  the  South  such  men  are  Demo- 
crats; in  the  North,  Eepublieans.  In  both  regions  the  work- 
ing men  are  neither,  if  they  understand. 

Fourth  Illustration:  The  Seven  Days'  Battle — 
The  "Brainy"  Promoters  and  the  Boys  in  Blue: 

A  nation  in  tears  is  the  business  man's  opportunity. 

Any  reference  by  a  Thirtieth-of-May  orator  to  the  Seven 
Days'  Battle  makes  "big  business  men"  and  statesmen  throw 
out  their  chests,  pat  their  soft  white  hands  and  vociferate 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  125 

with  perfectly  beautiful  patriotism.  But  let  us  look  a  little 
at  the  record. 

In  Chapter  Three  of  the  present  volume  it  was  briefly 
stated  that  one  reason  for  the  capitalists'  wanting  war  is  that 
war  completely  concentrates  a  nation's  attention  upon  one 
thing  and  one  thing  only ;  namely,  the  war ;  and  that  while  the 
people  are  thus  "not  looking,"  the  business  man  and  the  pol- 
iticians have  a  perfect  opportunity  to  arrange  "good  things" 
for  themselves.  And  here  I  shall  present  a  sample  of  Amer- 
ican business  men  filching  "good  things"  while  the  public's 
attention  is  wholly  absorbed  in  war.  For  shameless,  treason- 
able corruption  this  sample  can  not  be  surpassed  with  the 
foulest  page  in  the  history  of  the  ancient  and  rotten  pagan 
Eoman  Empire. 

Washington  during  the  American  Civil  War  was  a  rob- 
ber's roost  for  eminently  respectable  thieves,  industrial 
"bunco-steerers,"  and  prominent  and  pious  "come-on"  finan- 
cial pirates  who  were  never  near  the  firing  line.  The  very 
best  hotels  in  the  city  of  Washington  were  constantly  crowded 
with  these  patriotic  citizens,  "brainy  men,"  distinguished 
business  men — from  all  parts  of  the  North — a  continuous 
thieves'  banquet  by  men  who  socially  despised  the  humble 
fellows  at  the  front.  Cunningly  during  the  entire  war  these 
gilt-edged,  gold-dust  bandits,  far  from  danger  of  the  firing 
line,  plotted  deals  and  steals  and  stuffed  their  pockets  with 
"good  things" — while  brave  men  from  the  farms,  mines  and 
factories  bled  and  died  on  the  battlefield, — while  working 
class  wives  and  mothers  agonized  in  their  desolated  humble 
homes.  President  Lincoln  hated  and  dreaded  these  "hold-up" 
men,  and  sometimes  he  vented  his  splendid  wrath  against 
them  in  immortal  words  of  warning  to  the  people.* 


*  "It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  War  of  the  Rebellion  was  pro- 
longed as  a  result  of  the  manipulations  of  the  speculators  who  in- 
vested in  bonds.  While  the  boys  in  blue  were  baring  their  breasts 
to  the  enemy  in  a  heroic  struggle  to  save  the  Union,  for  $13  per  month, 
the  bond  sharks  were  speculating  upon  their  necessities  and  the 
necessities  of  the  Government.  At  one  time  President  Lincoln  was 
so  exasperated   by    their   greedy   and   unpatriotic    actions    that    he 


126  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Washington  is  such  a  pleasant  place  in  the  kindly,  smiling 
springtime.  Business  men  enjoy  that  town — while  Congress 
is  in  session. 

For  many  months  preceding  July^  1863,  a  certain  group 
of  these  broad-clothed  money-gluttons  camped  in  Washing- 
ton— alert  as  hawks,  keen  as  hungry  tigers  sniffing  warm 
blood.  This  precious  group  of  eminently  stealthy  Christian 
business  men  planned  and  plotted.  Cunningly  these  pirate 
patriots  arranged  a  specially  "good  thing^' — of  which  I  wish 
to  tell  you  here. 

There  was,  you  remember,  one  battle  in  the  late  Civil 
War  called  the  Seven  Days'  Battle.  Mark  the  dates  very 
carefully:  June  25  to  July  1,  1862 — seven  days — a  bloody, 
horrible  week.  For  several  reasons  this  battle  was  regarded 
as  most  critical;  many  thoughtful  people,  North  and  South, 
believed  the  Union  would  stand  or  fall  with  this  battle. 
President  Lincoln  ordered  General  McClellan  to  capture  the 
Confederate  capital,  Richmond,  or  hurry  north  and  protect 
Washington.  As  the  conflict  came  closer  and  closer  capital- 
ists and  statesmen  grew  busier — timing  a  master  stroke. 

June  24,  the  nation  watched  Virginia :  one  of  the  most 
prolonged  and  savage  struggles  in  the  whole  history  of  man- 
kind was  imminent. 

June  24,  therefore,  was,  for  certain  men,  the  last  day  of 
special  preparation.  The  cannon  would  surely  begin  next 
day  to  roar  around  Richmond. 

All  was  ready  (in  Washington).  .  .  .  The  understanding 
was  perfect  (in  Washington). 

"Without  a  single  syllable  of  delate,"  a  certain  bill  (pre- 
cisely as  it  had  been  handsomely  amended  by  the  Senate)  was 
passed  by  the  House  by  a  vote  of  104  to  21.  The  finishing 
touch  was  thus  put  upon  a  carefully  constructed  trap,  a  trap 
set  by  "leading  citizens,"  a  trap  for  big  game. 

Next  day — June  25 — the  cannon  did  begin  to  boom 
around  the  Confederate  capital. 

declared  they  'ought  to  have  their  devilish  heads  shot  off.'" — Con- 
gressman Vincent,  of  Kansas,  iii  tUe  House  of  Representatives,  April 

18,    1898. 


TRICKED  TO  TEE  TRENCHES.  127 

The  first  day's  struggle — June  25 — was  awful.  The  news 
flashed  through  the  land.     Millions  turned  pale. 

But  the  bandits  in  Washington  were  cool.  The  trap  was 
set.     They  waited. 

The  second  day  was  a  slaughter. 

More  smiles  and  confidence  in  the  best  "Washington  hotels. 

The  third  day  of  the  battle  was  a  butchering  contest. 
The  whole  people  watched,  listened.  The  news  flamed  north 
and  south.     Millions,  terrified,  read  the  dead  roll. 

But  the  broadcloth  gentlemen  wept  not.  They  waited — 
patriotically. 

The  fqurth  day  was  a  storm  of  blood  and  iron. 

But  the  eminent  business  men,  bankers,  statesmen,  pro- 
moters and  other  patriotic  looters,  safe  in  Washington — far 
from  the  firing  line — waited,  drank  fine  wine  and  very  con- 
fidently waited — waited  as  lions  wait — to  spring  to  the 
throats  of  their  victims. 

Mr.  Lincoln  held  back  his  signature  from  that  "certain 
Bill."  He  was  doing  his  best  for  the  boys  in  the  trenches, 
and  was  justly  suspicious  of  the  promoter-banker  patriotism 
in  Washington. 

The  fifth  day  millions  looked  toward  Virginia — and  were 
sickened  with  grief. 

But  certain  prominent  gentlemen  in  Washington  cheer- 
fully jested,  ate  the  best  food  on  earth,  lolled  in  easy  chairs, 
gracefully  reclined  on  elegantly  upholstered  sofas,  craftily 
plotted — and  waited,  in  calm  confidence  waited. 

The  sixth  day  of  the  battle  was  "Death's  feast."  The 
nation,  North  and  South,  was  stupefied  with  the  horror  of  the 
war. 

But  certain  'Tiighly  respected  leading  citizens,"  Christian 
business  men — flag-waving  patriots  all  of  them — quaffed 
their  wine,  chatted  gaily,  plotted,  and,  like  reptiles,  coiled 
to  strike — waited,  confident. 

The  seventh  day,  the  last  day,  the  baptism  of  blood  and 
fire  broke  the  nation's  heart.  As  morning  dawned  the  na- 
tion's one  thought  was:  The  war — the  awful  battles — the 
"week-long  harvest  of  death  in  Virginia.     Millions  sobbed  and 


128  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

eagerly  sought  more  news.  The  storm  of  death  completely 
absorbed  the  nation's  attention.  The  Seven  Days  of  slaugh- 
ter was  the  nation's  one  heart-gripping  thought. 

For  this  day  certain  patriots,  certain  "men  of  energy  and 
push  and  enterprise,"  certain  distinguished  business  men,  had 
patiently  and  craftily  waited.  The  psychological  moment ! 
The  nation  was  blinded  with  rage,  tears  and  despair.  Half 
insane  with  an  awful  joy  and  a  sickening  sorrow,  the  people, 
millions  of  them,  wildly  screamed,  sobbed  and  cursed — on 
July  1. 

Intense  day. 

The  Union  army  in  retreat — defeated. 

The  President  in  profound  alarm,  half  crazed  with  the 
agony  of  it  all,  decided,  July  1,  to  call  for  300,000  more 
soldiers  for  three  years'  service. 

Supreme  moment — for  the  business  man. 

Now! 

The  people  are  not  looking. 

Now! 

Strike,  viper,  strike! 

Leap,  gold-hungry  patriot!  Leap!  Leap  now — ^leap  for 
your  country's  throat ! 

Not  another  hour's  delay.  .  .  .  Place  the  final  pressure  on 
the  President. 

"Mr.  President!  Mr.  Lincoln!  Sign  our  bill!  Please 
sign  our  bill  now — right  now.  Quickly,  Mr.  President! 
Don't  delay  longer.     Now!" 

Hundreds  of  cannon  were  roaring  in  Virginia.  The  Pres- 
ident was  devouring  the  telegraphic  news  from  the  firing  line. 

Business  men — Christian  business  men — including  flag- 
loving  Congressmen,  very  noble  Senators,  and  many  other 
dollar-mark  statesmen,  were  directly  and  indirectly  urging 
that  the  bill  be  signed — at  once,  "for  the  country's  welfare," 
of  course. 

The  President,  urged  by  these  money-hungry  patriots, 
urged  by  these  "men  of  high  standing,"  thus  urged,  the 
President,  writhing  with  grief  over  the  Seven  Days'  slaughter 


I 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  129 

of  his  brave  volunteers,  almost  sweating  blood  in  his  profound 
fear, — signed  the  bill,  July  1. 

What  bill? 

The  bill  that  legalized  a  vast  and  shameless  wrong  against 
the  wives  and  children  of  brave  men  on  the  firing  line ;  the 
bill  that  legalized  a  rape  of  the  National  Domain  and  the 
Federal  Treasury  by  gilded  cowards,  while  from  the  "Atlantic 
Ocean  to  the  Eocky  Mountains,  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
brave  men,  ill  fed,  ill  clothed,  faced  hell  imder  the  flag  on 
the  firing  line;  the  bill  that  suddenly  made  plutocrats  of 
Christian  statesmen, — made  millionaires  of  flag-waving 
traitors  piously  masquerading  as  patriots;  the  bill  that 
created  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  charter,  the  astounding 
terms  of  which  are  given  presently. 

The  President  was  numb  and  dumb  with  sadness  and  a 
thousand  worries. 

"The  news  [of  the  Seven  Days'  Battle],"  says  Rhodes,*  "was 
a  terrible  blow  to  the  President.  The  finely  equipped  army  which 
had  cost  so  much  exertion  and  money,  had  gone  forward  with 
high  hopes  of  conquest,  and  apparently  bore  the  fate  of  the  Union, 
had  been  defeated,  and  was  now  in  danger  of  destruction  or  sur- 
render. This  calamity  the  head  of  the  Nation  must  face.  .  .  .  The 
elaborate  preparations  of  the  North  had  come  to  naught.  .  .  .  Lincoln 
grew  thin  and  haggard  and  his  dispatches  ...  of  these  days  are  an 
avowal  of  defeat." 

But  the  business  men  and  the  statesmen  who  were  "in  on 
the  deal"  winked  wisely,  smiled  blandly,  and  made  merry  as 
they  quaffed  their  champagne.  They  had  "turned  the  trick" 
— they  had  made  a  fine  bargain. 

"Business  is  business." 

July  2  came.  Certain  statesmen  and  business  men  in 
Washington  were  happy,  so  very,  very  happy — far  from  the 
firing  line. 

July  2  came.  And  while  a  cloud  of  buzzards  circled  con- 
fidently over  the  Seven  Days'  battlefield  eager  for  a  feast  on 
the  rotting  flesh  of  the  brave  working  class  soldier  boys ;  while 
the  torn  corpses  of  humble  working  class  men  were  hurriedly 


•  History  of  the  United  States,  Vol.  IV.,  pp.  44-56. 


130  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

pitched  into  the  ditches  and  the  dirt  and  gravel  were  shoveled 
upon  them;  while  the  grave- worms  began  their  feast  and 
revel  in  the  iiesh  and  blood  of  the  men  and  boys  from  the 
farms,  mines  and  factories;  while,  July  2,  the  wounded  men 
and  boys  screamed  under  the  surgeons'  knives  and  saws  in 
the  hospitals;  while,  July  2,  millions  mourned; — at  such  a 
time,  while  the  Union  army  was  retreating,  defeated — the 
"big,  brainy  business  men"  in  Washington  celebrated  their 
victory,  the  securing  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  charter. 
For  months  these  distinguished  patriotic  sneaks  had  been  pre- 
paring, hatching  this  "good  thing,"  the  Union  Pacific  charter. 
After  months  of  patriotic  treason  and  fox-like  watchfulness 
they  had  "landed"  their  prize. 

They  won. 

They  celebrated. 

A  nation  in  tears  is  the  business  man's  opportunity — for 
bargains. 

This  Union  Pacific  charter  was,  as  shown  below,  unques- 
tionably one  of  the  most  shameless  pieces  of  corruption  in 
the  entire  history  of  the  civilized,  unsocialized  world,  in- 
cluding even  pagan  Rome  in  her  most  degraded  days.  The 
crime  was  so  foul  and  vast  that  many  of  the  records  were 
burned  later — which,  perhaps,  saved  some  eminent  gentle- 
men from  being  lynched. 

Mr.  Henry  Clews  relates  :* 

"The  investigation  of  the  refunding  committee  of  the  Pa- 
cific railroads  at  Washington  brought  the  most  remarkable  evidence 
from  one  of  the  principal  vritnesses,  who  stated  that  the  books  con- 
nected with  the  construction  of  the  road  had  been  burned  or 
destroyed  as  useless  trash  involving  the  superfluous  expense  of  room 
rent,  though  they  contained  the  record  of  transactions  involving 
hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars,  a  record  which  became  absolutely 
necessary  to  the  fair  settlement  between  the  government  and  its 
debtors.  Also  the  fact  was  put  in  evidence  that  a  certain  party  in 
the  interest  had  testified  before  another  committee,  on  a  former 
occasion,  that  he  was  present  when  $54,000,000  of  profits  were 
divided  equally  among  four  partners,  himself  and  three  others. 
None  of  the  books  of  record  containing  this  valuable  information 
escaped  the  flames." 


*  The  Wall  Street  Point  of  Vieic,  p.  29. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  131 

The  charter  as  originally  granted,  July  1,  1862,  was 
treasonably  generous;  but  these  far-from-the-firing-line  pa- 
triots were  insatiably  gluttonous,  and  they  teased  and  bribed 
till  exactly  two  years  later  (July  2,  1864,  precisely  at  a 
time  when  the  war  was  terribly  intense  and  especially  criti- 
cal), the  liberality  of  the  terms  of  the  charter  was  almost 
doubled. 

Study  the  terms — the  chief  features — of  the  charter  as 
granted  and  amended. 

Eemember  the  date,  June  24  to  July  1,  1862, — the  week 
of  the  Seven  Days'  Battle.  Also  look  sharply  for  the  patriot- 
ism— in  the  charter. 

The  terms,  in  outline,  of  the  Union  Pacific  charter: 

First:  At  a  time  when  the  nation  was  straining  every 
nerve  to  carry  on  the  war,  at  a  time  when  the  soldiers  in  the 
trenches  were  paid  only  43  cents  a  day,  and  even  that  in 
depreciated  paper  money,  and  were  given  salt  pork  and  mouldy 
crackers  for  rations — at  such  a  time,  business  men  (cunningly 
assisted  by  patriotic  Congressmen  and  noble  Senators)  dipped 
their  greedy  hands  into  the  National  Treasury  and  took  out 
a  government  "loan"  to  the  railway  company  of  $60,000,000 
in  interest-bearing  government  bonds  worth  more  than  suf- 
ficient to  build  the  road.  Professor  W.  Z.  Ripley  (Harvard 
University)   says  :* 

"From  the  books  of  the  Union  Pacific  and  the  Credit  Mobilier  it 
appears  that  the  expenditures  by  the  Union  Pacific  directly  amounted 
to  $9,746,683.33;  and  that  the  actual  expenditures  under  the  Hoxie, 
Ames  and  Davis  contracts  were  $50,720,957.94,  making  the  total 
cost  of  the  road  $60,467,641.27." 

This  good-as-cash  loan  from  the  government  was  '^assist- 
ance" and  "incentive"  given  to  the  genteel  promoters  of  the 
Union  Pacific  Railway:  $16,000  per  mile  from  the  Missouri 
River  to  the  Rocky  Mountains;  $48,000  per  mile  through  the 
Rocky  Mountains;  and  $32,000  per  mile  beyond  the  Rockies. 
This  was  a  liberal  allowance,  surely.  Collis  P.  Huntington, 
long  time  president  of  the  Southern  Pacific,  claimed  afterward 


*  Railioay  Problems,  p.  95, 


132  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

that  the  road  could  be  built  at  an  average  cost  of  less  than 
$10,000  per  mile.  More  recently  the  Union  Pacific  Eailway 
Company  (contending  with  the  State  of  Utah  over  tax  bur- 
dens) proved  before  the  Board  of  Equalization  at  Salt  Lake 
City,  by  the  sworn  testimony  of  engineers,  that  the  average 
cost  of  the  Utah  Central  line,  in  a  rough  country,  was  only 
$7,298.20  per  mile. 

The  dear  capitalist  government  was  rich  enough  to  stuff 
the  pockets  of  the  glistening,  flag-waving  traitors  with  $60,- 
000,000  in  bonds  like  gold  as  "assistance"  and  "incentive" 
for  self-preservation  patriotism.  But  at  the  same  time  this 
dear  government  could  give  the  "boys  in  blue"  only  43  cents 
a  day  in  cheap  rag  money  as  "incentive."  These  "enterpris- 
ing business  men"  drank  champagne  and  slept  in  soft  beds; 
but  the  "boys  in  blue"  drank  water  from  muddy  horse-tracks 
and  slept  on  the  ground. 

Second:  The  Union  Pacific  Company,  it  was  cunningly 
arranged,  might  make  elsewhere  a  private,  cash,  mortgage- 
bonded  loan  equal  to  the  government  loan,  $60,000,000. 

Third:  The  noble  Christian  statesmen  in  Congress  and 
the  noble  Christian  business  men  (patriots  all)  cunningly 
agreed  that  a  first  mortgage  should  be  given  for  the  private 
loan  of  $60,000,000. 

Fourth  :  The  government  (bunco-steerers  inside  and  out- 
side of  Congress)  cunningly  agreed  to  take  a  second  mort- 
gage on  the  road  for  the  government  loan  of  $60,000,000. 

Fifth  :  It  was  cunningly  arranged  by  these  business  men 
in  politics  and  these  politicians  in  business  that  ninety-five  per 
cent,  of  the  government  second  mortgage  loan  should  not 
bear  interest  till  thirty  years  later;  but  that  all  the  private 
loans  should  bear  interest  at  once. 

Sixth  :  The  Eailway  Company  was  cunningly  given  per- 
mission to  sell  $100,000,000  in  railway  stocks. 

Stocks  were  sold  to  Congressmen  and  very  noble  Senators. 

Stocks  were  sold  to  these  very  noble  statesmen  below  the 
market  price. 

Stocks  sold  to  statesmen — it  was  cunningly  arranged — 
need  not  be  paid  for  till  after  the  road  was  finished  and  the 


TRICKED  TO  TEE  TEENCHES.  133 

stocks  were  paying  flividends.  For  Gxample,  Congressman 
W.  B.  Allison,  afterM'ard  Senator  Allison,  of  Iowa  (so  sly  and 
stealthy  that  he  became  known  as  "Pussy-Foot"),  bought  some 
of  the  stocks  "on  the  quiet,"  too,  from  the  infamous  Ames; 
he  paid  out  nothing  for  the  stocks,  but  when  he  had  owned 
the  stocks  for  only  a  brief  time  and  while  the  unfinished  road 
was  yet  in  comparatively  poor  condition,  his  dividends  more 
than  paid  for  his  stocks.*  The  Union  Pacific  scandal 
snuffed  out  numerous  lesser  lights  and  sadly  bedimmed  the 
lustre  of  twenty-two  other  "great"  names,  such  as  Blaine, 
Logan,  Garfield,  Colfax.f 

This  villainy  of  the  nation's  "great"  men  is  worthy  of 
Emerson's  interesting  flattery  of  eminent  prostitutes: 

"When  I  read  the  list  of  men  of  intellect,  of  refined  pursuits, 
giants  in  law,  or  eminent  scholars,  or  of  social  distinction,  men 
of  wealth  and  enterprise  in  the  commercial  community,  and  see 
what  they  have  voted  for  and  what  they  have  suffered  to  be  voted 
for,  I  think  no  community  was  ever  so  politely  and  elegantly  be- 
trayed."—  ("Lecture  on  Woman.") 

One  Congressman  was  given  $500,000  for  his  assistance  in 
getting  the  charter  granted. 

"Another  [expense],"  says  Professor  Kipley  (Harvard  Uni- 
versity )  ,t  "of  a  worse  sort  concerned  a  government  commissioner, 
Cornelius  Wendell,  appointed  to  examine  the  road  and  report 
whether  or  not  it  met  the  requirements  of  the  law,  who  flatly  de- 
manded $25,000  before  he  would  proceed  to  perform  his  duty  .  .  . 
his  demand  was  paid  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  it  was  made — as 
so  much  blood  money." 

Another  authority  thus  :§ 

"Oakes  Ames,  member  of  Congress,  from  Massachusetts  and  a 
promoter  of  tlie  Union  Pacific  and  its  bills  before  the  national  legis- 
lature, distributed  Credit  Mobilier  stock  to  influential  Congressmen 
on  the  understanding  that  it  should  be  paid  for  out  of  the  dividends, 


*  See  Davis:  The  Union  Pacific  Railway,  p.  187o 

f  Davis:   pp.  89-202. 

t  Railway  Problems,  p.  94. 

§  Professor  Frank  Parsons  (Boston  University):  The  Railways, 
the  Trusts  and  the  People,  p.  64.  And  see  Report  of  the  Wilson 
Investigating  Committee,  pp.  Ill,  IV,  et  seq.,  and  Parsons'  Chapter 
on  "Railroad  Graft."     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


134  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

wliich  dividends  depended  largely  on  the  passage  of  the  bills  giving 
grants  of  land  and  money  to  the  U.  P.  The  bills  were  passed. 
The  dividends  of  the  very  first  year  paid  for  the  stock  and  left  a 
balance  to  the  credit  of  the  donees;  and  the  total  construction 
profits  were  $43,925,328  above  all  expenses,  in  which  profits  the 
stock-holding  Congressmen  who  passed  the  railroad  grants  had  an 
important  share," 

Seventh  :  The  statesmen-business  men  cunningly  agreed 
that  when  the  government  used  the  road  (which  it  had  fur- 
nished more  than  sufficient  means  to  construct)  one-half  the 
regular  rate  should  be  paid  in  cash  and  the  other  half  should 
apply  as  credit  on  the  government  loan. 

Eighth:  The  Union  Pacific  Railway  Company,  including 
the  Central  Pacific  (same  system),*  was  cunningly  presented 
— scot  free — one-half  of  all  the  land  within  twenty  miles 
of  the  right-of-way,  and  "all  the  timber,  iron  and  coal  within 
six  miles"  of  the  right-of-way, — a  total  of  25,000,000  acres 
of  land.  "At  $2.50  per  acre,"  says  President  E,  B.  Andrews 
(University  of  Nebraska),!  "the  land  values  alone  would 
more  than  build  the  road."  The  Northern  Pacific  Company 
received,  just  two  years  later,  47,000,000  acres  of  land  as  a 
gift  which  a  land  expert^  estimated  to  be  worth  probably 
$990,000,000  and  possibly  $1,320,000,000,— which  gives  us 
some  idea  of  the  value  of  the  25,000,000  acre  gift  to  the  Union 
Pacific. 

It  is  worth  the  space  to  add:  That  "the  promoters  of  the 
Northern  Pacific,  through  unfair  construction  contracts  and  other 
frauds,  made  the  capitalization  of  600  miles  of  that  line  constructed 
down  to  1874  amount  to  143  millions  on  an  actual  expenditure  of 
twenty-two  millions."§ 

Ninth  :  Again  and  again  the  Union  Pacific,  when  it 
suited  its  purpose  to  do  so,  refused  to  comply  with  the  treason- 


*  "Similar  franchises  and  subsidies  were  at  the  same  time 
given  to  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad  Company." — Parsons:  The 
Railways,  the  Trusts  and  the  People,  p.  128. 

j-  The  United  States  in  Our  Own  Time,  p.   103. 

%  Wilson,  for  several  years  Land  Commissioner  for  the  Illinois 
Central  Railway  Company,  cited  by  Andrews. 

§  Parsons:  The  Railways,  the  Trusts  and  the  People,  p.  106. 


.1 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TBENCUES.  135 

ably  easy  terms  of  its  charter;  but  always  the  patriots  in 
Washington  and  the  distinguished  railway  gentlemen  cunning- 
ly "got  together,"  made  some  "gentlemen's  agreement" — and 
the  charter  was  not  revoked. 

As  suggested  above,  this  charter,  as  amended  by  the  Senate 
and  in  the  form  signed  by  the  President,  July  1,  18(52, — was, 
when  it  was  finally  "considered"  in  the  House  of  Mis-Repre- 
sentatives, voted  104  to  21  "without  a  single  syllable  of 
debate."* 

Professor  Parsons  sums  up  the  case  thusif 

"The  promoters  got  from  Congress  more  than  the  cost  of  the 
road,  bonded  it  again  to  private  investors  for  all  it  was  worth, 
issued  stock  also  beyond  the  cost  of  construction,  sold  and  gave 
away  a  good  deal  of  it,  and  still  liad  the  road  and  the  control  of 
its  earnings  for  themselves." 

The  magnitude  of  this  statesmen-patriot-thieves'  master- 
piece ("for  love  of  country  and  home  and  God")  can  not  be 
realized  without  a  further  word  concerning  the  land  grants. 

Seventy-nine  land-grant  railroads  (twenty-one  of  them 
"direct  beneficiaries  of  Congress")  have  been  granted  200,000,- 
000  acres  of  land  (reduced  by  forfeiture  to  158,286,627  acres). 

"Over  one-half  of  this  acreage  was  granted  by  acts 

PASSED  between  1862  AND  1864."$ 

That  is  to  say,  during  twenty-four  terrible  months,  just 
while  the  nation  was  sweating  blood  from  every  pore,  while 
the  people  were  not  looking  at  anything  except  the  war,  pre- 
cisely at  that  time,  patriotic  statesmen  gave  away  to  railway 
promoters  who  shed  no  "blood  for  the  flag,"  gave  to  these 
"gentlemen  of  push  and  enterprise"  a  sufficient  amount  of  the 
people's  lands  to  provide  a  hundred  and  twenty-five-acre  farm 
for  every  one  of  the  800,000  men  mustered  out  of  the  Union 
armies  in  1865. 

Professor  Parsons  says    "the    total  national  land-grants 


*  Davis :     The   Union  Pacific  Railway. 

•j-  The  Railroads,  the  Trusts  and  the  People,  p.  128. 

$  Professors  Cleveland  and  Powell  (University  of  Pennsylvania)  : 
Railroad  Promotion  and  Capitalization,  p.  250.  Emphasis  mine. 
G.  R.  K. 


136  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

alone  have  aggregated  215,000,000  acres"— (15,000,000  acres 
higher  than  the  estimate  by  Professors  Cleveland  and  Powell). 

"It  could  be  said  of  more  than  one  railroad  company  as  was 
said  by  an  English  capitalist  who  inspected  .  .  .  the  properties  of 
the  Illinois  Central,  'This  is  not  a  railway  company;  it  is  a  land 
company.'  "* 

It  is  interesting  (and  instructive)  to  note  that  the  charter 
of  the  Northern  Pacific  Eailway  with  its  47,000,000  acre 
land  gift,  with  astoundingly  liberal  amendments  to  the  U.  P. 
charter,  was  granted  July  2,  1864,  precisely  at  a  time  when  the 
nation's  attention  was  again  riveted  to  two  specially  terrible 
campaigns  which  absorbed  the  nation  wholly  in  the  war : 
Grant  and  Lee,  with  immense  armies,  were  fighting  bitterly, 
and  Sherman  with  98,000  men  and  Johnston  with  45,000 
men  had  been  fighting  fiercely  and  almost  continuously  from 
June  10  to  July  2,  1864.  As  stated  above,  the  Northern 
Pacific  got  47,000,000  acres  of  land.f 

The  three  railways,  says  Professor  Parsons  in  substance,:|: 
the  Union  Pacific,  the  Central  Pacific  and  the  Northern 
Pacific,  cost  somewhat  less  than  $132,000,000,  and  were  capi- 
talized at  more  than  $383,000,000— that  is  to  say,  about  $250,- 
000,000  (two-thirds  of  the  capitalization)  was  fictitious, — a 
fraud,  a  lie,  commercial  patriotism. 

While  at  wining  and  dining  tables  in  closely  guarded 
private  parlors  in  the  best  hotels  in  Washington  this  un- 
matchable  plundering  was  cunningly  arranged  ("to  develop 
the  country,  of  course")  working  class  men  and  boys,  half 
starved  and  weary,  were  obediently  slaughtering  themselves 
at  the  word  of  command — for  43  cents  a  day,  in  depreciated 
paper  money  forced  upon  them  by  pirate  patriots. 

While  the  nation  is  blinded  with  tears  and  the  common 
men's  blood  gushes  from  their  torn  veins,  the  "business"  man, 
with  pious  patriotism  talking  grandly  of  the  "glorious  flag," 


*  See  Professors  Cleveland  and  Powell:  Railroad  Promotion  and 
Capitalization,  pp.  250,   255. 

f  See  Lalor's  Cyclopedia  of  Political  Science,  Political  Economy, 
and  United  States  History,  Vol.  III.,  p.  514. 

J  The  Railways,  the  Trusts  and  the  People,  p.  107. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  137 

cnnningly  sneaks  to  the  nation's  storehouse,  a  blushless  bur- 
glar ;  he  climbs  aboard  the  ship  of  state,  a  conscienceless 
pirate.* 

Fifth  illustration  :  "Freeing  Cuba" — "Remembering 
THE  Maine." 

So  you  were — or  wished  to  be — in  the  Spanish-American 
War? 

Well,  I  wish  to  explain  why  the  capitalists  excited  some 
young  men — carefully  excited  them — and  then  sent  them  to 
Cuba  in  1898. 

There  were  very  strong  reasons  for  their  doing  so. 

(1)  American  capitalists  already  had  investments  in  Cu- 
ban industries,  and  they  knew  that  if  the  United  States  took 
charge  of  Cuba,  their  investments  would  be  more  secure,  would 
thus  increase  in  value — and  thus  yield  more  profits. 

(2)  American  capitalists  wanted  Spanish  capitalists 
crowded  out  in  order  to  give  still  more  opportunity  to  Ameri- 
can capitalists  to  extend  their  American  capitalism  in  Cuba 
— and  thus  make  more  profits. 

(3)  Some  American  capitalists  and  craftily  noble  states- 
men also  secured  some  Cuban  Eevolutionary  bonds  at  ex- 
tremely low  prices  or  as  gifts,  and  they  hoped  and  struggled 
to  have  the  interest  and  principal  guaranteed  by  the  United 
States  Government,  and  thus  have  these  bonds  rise  in  price  at 
least  to  par — which  would  mean  enormous  profits. 

(4)  There  was  also  at  least  some  possibility  (seriously  dis- 
cussed by  prominent  statesmen  in  Washington)  that  Spanish- 


*  The  Fourth  Illustration  was  prepared  before  the  appearance 
of  Mr.  Gustavus  Myers'  History  of  Great  American  Fortunes,  in 
which  the  reader  can  find  much  concerning  the  land  steals.  Myers' 
three  volumes  are  brimful  of  bombshells  for  the  "noble  record"  ot 
the  glistening  barnacles  that  have  clung  to  the  body  politic  ever 
since  George  Washington  was  under  indictment  for  swearing  off  his 
taxes.  Mr.  Myers  has  sadly  bedimmed  the  glory  of  the  illustrious 
"solid  men  of  business."  The  work  serves  as  a  great  contribution  to 
the  literature  on  social  parasitism  concerning  which  the  wage-earner 
should  make  all  haste  to  get  all  possible  information. 


138  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Cuban  bonds,  said  by  some  to  aggregate  hundreds  of  millions, 
already  issued  by  the  Spanish  Government  against  the 
revenues  of  the  Island  of  Cuba, — a  possibility  that  these  bonds 
also  would  be  guaranteed  by  the  United  States  Government.* 
In  case  of  war  these  bonds  would  become  doubtful,  would  fall 
very  low  in  price,  and  then  they  could,  of  course,  be  bought  up 
for  almost  nothing.  Then,  if  guaranteed  by  our  Government, 
they  would  rise  high  in  price  and  become  a  "good  thing"  for 
those  who  bought  them  at  a  sacrifice  price  and  then  made  all 
haste  to  have  them  thus  guaranteed. 
Here  again  the  goal  was  profits. 

(5)  American  capitalists  well  knew  that  intervention  in 
Cuba  would  involve  a  costly  war — so  expensive  as  to  make 
"necessary"  the  issuing  of  interest-bearing  United  States 
bonds,  purchasing  which,  the  buyers  could  milk  the  nation  in 
interest  for  a  generation  or  more.  House  Bill  No.  10,100t 
actually  proposed  that  our  Government  should  issue,  "for 
Cuban  War  expenses."  $500,000,000  in  3  per  cent,  untaxable 
bonds,  which,  if  purchased  at  par,  would  annually  yield  the 
purchasers  the  snug  little  sum  of  $15,000,000,  in  profits,  be- 
sides other  immense  pecuniary  advantages. 

"And  under  the  authority  to  borrow  conferred  by  the  Act  of 
June  13,  1898,  $200,000,000  of  3  per  cent,  bonds  were  actually  sold. 
.  .  .  The  total  subscriptions  [offers  for  the  bonds]  amounted  to 
$1,400,000,000.  .  .  .  Within  a  few  months  the  original  holdings  passed 
into  the  possession  of  a  comparatively  few  persons  and  corpora- 
tions,"$ 

That  is,  the  bond-buying  patriots  who  were  not  at  the 
front  eating  canned  beef  were  willing  to  buy  seven  times  as 
many  bonds  as  ivere  offered  and  thus  in  tender  "love  of  coun- 
try," fasten  themselves,  like  leeches,  to  the  social  body — 
profitably. 

(6)  It  was  absolutely  certain  that  such  a  war  would 
vigorously  stimulate  business — and  thus  increase  profits. 


*  See  discussions  in  Congressional  Record  of  the  period. 
■f  See   Congressional   Records. 

$  D.   R.   Dewey:    The  Financial  History  of   the   United  States, 
p.  467. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TllENCIIES.  139 

(7)  A  war  in  Cuba  was  also  certain  to  make  "necessary" 
a  larger  standing  army.  And  an  army  is  very  useful  to  the 
capitalist  class  in  holding  down  the  working  class — in  the 
game  of  profits. 

Thus  there  were  seven,  or  more,  patriotic  (and  profitable) 
reasons  for  having  Cuba  "freed." 

They  fooled  us — didn't  they  ?  They  shouted :  "Remember 
the  Maine !"  That  made  our  blood  hot — stampeded  us — didn't 
it  ?  But  we  are  cooler  now — aren't  we  ?  Let  us  see :  Suppose 
a  great  ship  should  sink  in  a  shallow  harbor,  as  the  Maine  did, 
and  suppose  it  had  on  board  three  dozen  young  men  from 
the  homes  of  the  leading  capitalists  of  America — millionaires' 
sons.  What  think  you — would  the  vessel  be  raised  or 
not? 

Did  you  ever  think  of  this  ?  If  the  Spaniards  blew  up  the 
Maine  with  a  sunken  mine,  how  can  you  explain  the  fact  that 
the  Maine's  armor-plate  was  bent  outward  and  not  inward  at 
the  points  of  fracture  ?  Why  does  not  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment push  the  investigation  to  the  very  limit  ?  Wliy  stop 
the  investigation  very  suddenly  just  as  things  get  extremely 
interesting? — just  as  it  seems  likely  that  information  is  about 
to  come  out  which  would  astonish  the  whole  world? 

Ever  think  of  it?  Would  it  not  have  been  profitable  for 
some  American  capitalists  to  have  bribed  some  scoundrel  to 
blow  up  the  Maine  from  the  inside  ?  It  was  profitable  for  capi- 
talists in  the  American  Civil  War  to  furnish  Union  soldiers 
with  rifles  so  defective  that  thousands  of  them  exploded  in  the 
hands  of  the  soldier  boys.  Thousands  of  the  guns  when  sold 
io  the  Government  and  handed  on  to  the  soldiers  bore  the  mark 
"Condemned."  Look  this  matter  up  in  Gustavus  Myers'  His- 
tory of  Great  American  Fortunes,  Vol.  IL,  pp.  127-38.  Then 
when  you  hear  some  "Eemember  the  Maine"  music  you  will 
not  become  so  violently  excited  and  eager  to  enlist. 

Of  course  you  were  told  that  the  purpose  of  American 
interference  in  Cuba  was  to  free  the  poor,  suffering,  abused 
Cubans: — the  usual  dose  of  philanthropy,  flattery  and  bom- 
bast. Some  eloquent  speeches  were  made  by  Senators  and 
Congressmen,  speeches  of  unusual  power  and  rare  beauty.    But 


140  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

the  beauty  and  the  power  and  the  eloquence  did  not  induce 
any  of  the  eloquent  statesmen  to  go  to  the  war.    Hardly. 

If  the  United  States  Government  had  promptly  recognized 
the  revolutionary  Cubans'  right  to  become  a  sovereign  nation 
possessing  mter7iational  rights  and  pi'lvileges,  the  Cubans 
could  have  freed  themselves.  France  thus  recognized  the 
puny,  rebellious  American  Eevolutionary  government  in  1778 ; 
and  that  recognition  helped  us  along  wonderfully. 

American  capitalists  in  1897-98  were  simply  searching  the 
world  for  an  opportunity  to  line  their  pockets.  Excitable 
young  men  and  boys  came  in  handy  as  armed  hired  hands, 
hired  fists;  though,  of  course,  these  same  hired  men  were  left 
in  the  lurch,  got  disease,  broken  health — and  contemptuous 
laughter. 

Brothers,  you  veterans  of  the  Cuban  War,  crafty  men 
excited  you,  amused  you,  confused  you,  then  used  you  and  de- 
spised you  so  thoroughly  that  they  gave  some  of  you  horse 
meat  while  in  camp  within  five  miles  of  Washington  on  your 
way  to  the  war — so  some  of  your  number  have  said — and  gave 
you  on  the  battlefield  embalmed  meat  canned  years  before, 
meat  that  even  fizzed  with  a  vile  odor  when  the  point  of  a 
knife-blade  was  thrust  into  the  can,  meat  unfit  for  a  mangy 
cur  or  a  buzzard. 

Excited  you? 

Yes,  that  is  exactly  what  happened  to  you. 

A  man  is  pretty  thoroughly  excited  and  confused — isn't 
he? — when  he  is  singing  "My  Country!  'tis  of  Thee!"  at  the 
very  time  that  country  is  feeding  him  meat  unfit  for  a  dog. 
Mr.  Eoosevelt  confesses  that  a  special  effort  was  made  to 
excite  you,  and  he  also  tells  us  some  other  things  :* 

"And  from  the  moment  when  the  regiment  began  to  gather, 
the  higher  officers  kept  instilling  into  those  under  them  the  spirit 
of  eagerness  for  action,  of  stern  determination  to  grasp  at  death 
rather  than  forfeit  honor  .  .  .  fever  sickened  and  weakened  them  so 
that  many  of  them  died  from  it  during  the  few  months  following 
their  return.  ...  We  found  all  our  dead  and  all  the  badly  wounded. 
.  .  .  One  of  our  own  dead  and  most  of  the  Spanish  dead  had  been 


The  Rough  Riders,  passim.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  141 

found  by  the  vultures  before  we  got  to  them;  and  their  bodies  were 
mangled,  their  eyes  iind  wounds  being  torn.  ...  A  very  touching 
incident  happened  in  the  improvised  open-air  hospital  after  the 
fight,  where  the  wounded  were  lying.  .  .  .  One  of  them  suddenly 
began  to  hum,  'My  Country,  'Tis  of  Thee,'  and  one  by  one  the  others 
joined  in  the  chorus,  which  swelled  out  through  the  tropic,  where 
the  victors  lay  in  camp  beside  their  dead." 

How  lovely — so  perfectly  sweet  of  them.  So  extremely 
touching — ^'grasping  at  death." 

The  buzzards  tore  out  the  eyes  of  some  of  the  brave  young 
fellows  and  feasted  on  them;  the  grave-worms  got  some  of 
them ;  vile  diseases  sickened  many  thousands  of  them ;  and 
many  of  them  came  home  to  "their  dear  country" — so  poor  in 
purse  that  they  had  to  beg  on  the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  New 
York  and  elsewhere. 

Their  dear  country. 

They  had  been  "grasping  at  death"  for  their  dear  country. 

Remember:  The  buzzards  and  the  battle-field  grave-worms 
did  not  get  the  "prominent  people"  who  actually  own  this 
dear  country.  "Higher  officers"  can  not  instill  or  fill  a  banker 
or  a  manufacturer  so  full  of  the  "spirit  of  eagerness"  that  he 
becomes  eager  to  "grasp  at  death"  and  have  his  eyeballs  ripp3d 
out  and  his  shattered  body  eaten  by  vultures. 

These  men  were  not  excited — not  in  the  least. 

These  men  were  thinking. 

These  were  not  "grasping  at  death";  they  were  grasping 
for  Cuba. 

Cuba  looked  good  and  you  looked  easy. 

These  men  needed  you  in  their  business.  And  they  got 
you,  you  Cuban  War  veterans. 

Some  items  of  interest  concerning  this  matter  leaked  out 
and  got  into  the  papers — into  obscure  columns  of  a  few  of  the 
papers.  It  improves  one's  enthusiasm  for  "patriotism"  to  read 
a  few  of  these  "leaks."  Following  are  a  few  of  the  items, 
from  the  New  York  Tribune:* 

"According  to  the  statement  given  out  by  the  Cuban  Junta 
yesterday,  the  Republic  of  Cuba  issued  $2,000,000  of  bonds,  payable 


April  1,  6,  9,  and  20,  1898. 


142  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

in  gold,  at  6  per  cent,  interest,  ten  years  after  the  war  with  Spain 
had  ended.  Of  this  lot  $500,000  were  sold  at  an  average  of  50 
per  cent.  .  .  .  Among  the  purchasers  of  these  bonds  were  many 
prominent  financiers  of  this  city;  and  now  the  bonds  which  were 
originally  sold  at  50  per  cent,  of  their  face  value  have  increased  to 
60  per  cent.  ... 

"The  disposition  of  the  bonds  of  the  Cuban  Republic  has  been 
a  question  discussed  in  certain  quarters  during  the  last  few  days 
.  .  .  and  the  graver  charge  has  been  made  that  the  bonds  have  been 
given  away  indiscriminately  in  the  United  States  to  the  people  of 
influence  who  would  therefore  become  interested  in  seeing  the  Re- 
public of  Cuba  on  such  terms  with  the  United  States  as  would  make 
the  bonds  valuable  pieces  of  property.  Men  of  business,  newspaper 
and  even  public  officials  have  been  mentioned  as  having  received  these 
bonds  as  a  gift.  .  .  . 

"Some  interesting  facts  were  developed  before  the  Foreign  Af- 
fairs Committee  of  the  House  today.  B.  F.  Guerra,  Deputy-Treasurer 
of  the  Cuban  Republic,  appeared  with  his  books,  and  they  were  in- 
spected by  the  Committee.  He  explained  that  of  the  $10,000,000  in 
bonds  authorized  .  .  .  the  lowest  price  at  which  any  were  sold  was 
25  cents  on  the  dollar.  .  .  .  One  million  of  the  bonds  were  locked 
up  in  the  safe  of  Belmont  and  Company,  of  New  York,  to  be  sold 
when  the  price  fixed,  45  cents  on  the  dollar,  had  been  obtained. 

"...  Mr.  Guerra  was  asked  about  the  Spanish-Cuban  bonds 
issued  against  the  revenues  of  the  island.  He  replied  that  he  did 
not  know  their  amount,  which  report  placed  at  $400,000,000.  .  .  . 
Deputy-Treasurer  Guerra  was  also  before  the  Senate  Committee  on 
Foreign  Relations  today.  He  said  the  Cuban  bonds  which  had  been 
sold  had  been  disposed  of  for  an  average  of  about  40  cents  on  the 
dollar.  .  .  . 

"Some  of  the  Republicans  in  Congress  .  .  .  are  investigating  the 
question  as  to  whether  the  United  States  under  international  law, 
if  it  intervened  in  Cuba  and  cut  off  the  revenues,  could  be  held 
responsible  for  the  Spanish  bonds,  said  to  aggregate  $400,000,000, 
which  have  been  issued  against  the  revenues  of  the  island.  Mr. 
Bromwell  says  he  is  looking  into  the  question,  and  finds  some  war- 
rant in  law  for  such  responsibility.  .  .  . 

"Congressman  'Blank'*  in  the  House  on  Monday,  said  he  had 
$10,000  worth  of  Cuban  bonds  in  his  pocket  .  .  .  while  H.  H.  Kohl- 
saat,  in  an  editorial  in  one  of  the  Chicago  papers,  charges,  the  Jimta 
with  oflFering  a  bribe  of  $2,000,000  of  Cuban  bonds  to  a  Chicago 
man  [to  one  man!]  to  use  his  influence  with  the  administration 
for  the  recognition  of  the  provisional  government.  .  .  . 


See  Tribune  for  real  name  in  full. 


TRICKED  TO  TEE  TRENCHES.  143 

"Mr.  Guerra  made  the  somewhat  startling  statement  tliat  a 
man  representing  certain  individuals  at  Wasliington  has  sought  to 
coerce  the  Junta  into  selling  $10,000,000  worth  of  bonds  at  20 
cents  on  the  dollar.  'This  man  practically  threatened  us  that 
unless  we  let  him  have  the  bonds  at  the  price  he  quoted,  Cuba 
would  never  receive  recognition.  He  said  he  was  prepared  to  pay 
on  the  spot  $2,000,000  in  American  money,  for  $10,000,000  of  Cuban 
bonds,  but  his  offer  was  refused.' " 

As  the  possibility  of  "good  things"  increased,  the  states- 
men's tender  hearts  were  deeply  stirred,  naturally,  and  they 
set  up  a  melodiously  patriotic  howl  for  intervention.  Many 
powerful  newspapers  were  turned  upon  the  public  to  "work" 
the  working  class,  and  soon  tens  of  thousands  of  humble  fel- 
lows of  the  working  class  were  wild  with  eagerness  to  rush  to 
the  front  and  "help  the  poor  Cubans." 

But  a  very  high  authority,  Professor  McMaster  (Univer- 
sity of  Pennsylvania),  assures  us*  that  the  outrages  committed 
against  the  Cubans  by  the  Spanish  Government  had  been  com- 
mon for  more  than  fifty  years.  "The  Cubans  had  rebelled  six 
times  m  these  fifty  years."  But  not  until  American  capital- 
istic interests  were  well  developed  did  it  seem  "noble"  and 
"grand"  and  "the  will  of  God"  to  intervene.  But  by  the  year 
1895  "upwards  of  $50,000,000  of  American  money  were  in- 
vested in  mines,  railroads  and  plantations  there.  Our  yearly 
trade  with  the  Cubans  was  valued  at  $96,000,000." 

It  was  time  to  weep — profitably. 

Hence  the  tearful  orations  and  powerful  editorials  for  in- 
tervention. How  the  orators  and  business  men  far  from  the 
firing  line  loved  "the  men  behind  the  guns."  Here  is  some 
more  evidence:! 

"The  canned  roast  meat  ...  a  great  majority  of  the  men  found 
it  uneatable.  It  was  coarse,  stringy  and  tasteless  and  very  dis- 
agreeable in  appearance,  and  so  unpalatable  that  the  effort  [ !  ]  to 
eat  it  made  some  of  the  men  sick.  Most  of  them  preferred  to  be 
hungry  rather  than  eat  it.  .  .  .  As  nine-tenths  of  the  men  were 
more  or  less  sick,  the  unattractiveness  of  the  travel-rations  was 
doubly  unfortunate.  ...  In  some  respects  the  Spanish  rations  were 
preferable   to  ours.   .  .   .   We  had  nothing  whatever   in  the  way  of 

*  School  History  of  the  United  States,  p.  476. 
•}•  Roosevelt :   The  Rough  Riders,  passim. 


144  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

proper  nourishing  food  for  our  sick  and  wounded  men  during  most 
of  the  time.  ...  On  the  day  of  the  big  fight,  July  1,  as  far  as  we 
could  find  out  there  were  but  two  ambulances  with  the  army  in 
condition  to  work — neither  of  which  did  we  see.  ...  On  several 
occasions  I  visited  the  big  hospitals  in  the  rear.  Their  condition 
was  frightful  beyond  description  from  lack  of  supplies,  lack  of  medi- 
cine, lack  of  doctors,  nurses,  and  attendants.  .  .  .  The  wounded  and 
the  sick  who  were  sent  back  [to  the  hospitals]  suffered  so  much 
that,  whenever  possible,  they  returned  to  the  front.  .  .  .  The  fever 
began  to  make  heavy  ravages  among  our  men  .  .  ,  not  more  than 
half  our  men  could  carry  their  rolls.  .  .  .  But  instead  of  this  the 
soldiers  were  issued  horrible  stufl'  called  'canned  fresh  beef.'  ...  At 
best  it  was  stringy  and  tasteless,  at  the  worst  it  was  nauseating.  Not 
one-fourth  of  it  was  ever  eaten  at  all  even  when  the  men  became 
very  hungry.  .  .  .  The  canned  beef  proved  to  be  practically  uneat- 
able. .  .  .  When'  we  were  mustered  out,  many  of  the  men  had  lost 
their  jobs,  and  were  too  weak  to  go  to  work  at  once.  Of  course 
there  were  a  few  weaklings  among  them;  and  there  were  others, 
entirely  brave  and  self-sufficient,  who  from  wounds  or  fevers  were 
so  reduced  that  they  had  to  apply  for  aid.  .  .  ." 

While  our  government  was  feeding  its  soldiers  on  meat 
unfit  for  a  dog,  our  export  trade  included  millions  of  pounds 
of  the  best  meat  on  earth — sent  to  Europe  to  be  eaten  by  the 
aristocratic  snobs  of  the  "better  class." 

Shakespeare  has  asked  the  thoughtful  man's  question: 

"What  would  you  have  me  do?  Go  to  the  wars,  would  you? 
Where  a  man  may  serve  seven  years  for  the  loss  of  a  leg,  and  have 
not  money  in  the  end  to  buy  a  wooden  one." 

"Freeing  Cuba"  was — ^was  what  ?  A  change  of  masters  for 
the  Cuban  working  class,  and  a  "fool's  errand"  for  the  Amer- 
ican working  class  soldiers,  as  many  of  them  have  confessed 
— confessed  with  curses  for  the  crafty  prominent  people  who 
seduced  them  to  the  battlefields. 

Sixth  Illustration  :  Standing  at  attention  for  civil- 
ized CANNIBALS  : 

Consider  a  moment  the  recent  war  between  Christian 
Eussia  and  pagan  Japan,  a  war  for  the  capitalist  control  of 
Manchuria,  the  working  class  of  course  doing  the  fighting — 
as  usual. 

It  is  well-known  that  the  economic  interests  of  the  pagan 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  145 

Japanese  capitalists  in  Manchuria  inspired  the  Japanese 
statesmen  to  the  recent  war  with  Russia.  The  Christian  Rus- 
sian capitalists  had  precisely  the  same  sort  of  inspiration  for 
the  war.  Here  are  presented  some  facts  to  be  considered  by 
the  spiritual  followers  of  Christ  who  presume  to  scorn  the 
"sordid  materialism  of  the  'unsaved'  pagan  Japanese" : 

(1)  For  years  preceding  1903  the  Christian  Tsar  and  the 
Christian  Empress  and  many  of  their  Christian  friends  had 
opposed  the  threatening  war  in  Manchuria. 

(2)  In  1903  the  Royal  Timber  Company  was  organized 
to  scoop  up  many  millions  of  dollars  in  profits  to  be  made 
out  of  the  vast  lumber  forests  in  the  Yalu  River  valley  "se- 
cured" from  the  pagan  Corean  government. 

(3)  In  1903  the  Tsar  and  the  Empress  and  many  of  their 
friends  joined  the  Royal  Timber  Company,  taking  stock  to  the 
amount  of  many  millions  of  dollars. 

(4)  Having  become  involved  in  Corea  as  capitalists  with 
economic  interests  to  be  protected,  the  Tsar,  the  Empress  and 
their  friends  immediately  and  completely  reversed  their  posi- 
tion on  the  question  of  war — vigorously  favored  the  war 
which  now  seemed  to  be  necessary  to  protect  their  Yalu  River 
lumber  interests.  It  now,  of  course,  became  perfectly  clear 
that  "the  kingdom  of  Christ  could  be  advanced  among  the 
heathen" — on  the  point  of  the  bayonet. 

Hence  the  two  years  of  butchering  of  brothers  by  brothers 
— who  were  duly  informed  that  they  were  "enemies."* 

It  seems  barely  possible  that  the  47,387  Japanese  soldiers 
who  were  killed  in  that  war  could  have  no  proper  appreciation 
of  the  Tsar's  spiritual  motives  in  promoting  the  war ;  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  during  the  war  320,000  sick  and  wounded 
were  sent  from  Manchurian  battlefields  to  Japan.  These, 
while  nursing  their  festering  wounds  and  their  wasting  health, 
had  some  leisure  to  have  explained  to  them  the  somewhat 
elusively  spiritual  element  of  a  Christian  war  inaugurated  for 
"Jesus'  sake"  and  the  protection  of  a  saw-mill  enterprise. 

This  terrible  war  lasted  two  years.    But  it  would  certainly 


•  See  McClure's  Magazine,  Sept.,  1908. 


146  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

have  closed  in  six  months  because  of  lack  of  funds — if  Chris- 
tian business  men  and  gentle,  "cultivated"  Christian  women  of 
the  world  had  refused  to  lend  money  to  the  two  sleek  groups 
of  oflficial  brutes  in  Japan  and  Russia  who  were  forcing  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  humble  working  men  into  Manchuria  to 
slaughter  one  another.  Just  charge  up  twenty-four  months  of 
that  ferocious  blood-spilling — charge  it,  not  only  to  the 
Christian  barbarians  the  Tsar  and  his  friends,  and  the  un- 
christian Mikado  and  his  pagan  capitalist  friends,  but  also 
to  the  civilized,  fur-lined,  orthodox  savages  of  Western  Europe 
and  of  the  United  States  who  were  so  wolfishly  eager  for  un- 
earned incomes  in  interest  on  war  bonds  that  they  were 
willing,  by  lending  money  to  fan  the  flames  of  war, — willing 
to  foster  wholesale  murder,  willing  to  wet  the  earth  with  work- 
ing class  blood  and  tears — willing  thus  to  sink  their  industrial 
tusks  deep  into  the  quivering  flesh  of  the  toilers  of  Japan  and 
Russia.    Always  there  is  a  reason. 

At  one  time  in  the  war  Japanese  statesmen  offered  interest- 
bearing,  Japanese  national  bonds  for  sale  in  San  Francisco. 
There  was  instantly  a  swinish  scramble  by  lily-fingered  Chris- 
tian ladies  and  gentlemen  of  that  city  to  buy  those  pagan 
blood-wet  bonds;  the  bonds  were  thus  purchased  immediately 
— with  the  unblushing  promptness  of  greed.  The  offers  of 
cash  vastly  exceeded  the  amount  of  the  bonds  offered.  And 
now  these  "leading  Christian  citizens,"  having  thus  stuck  out 
their  tongues  in  scorn  at  the  Christ  of  Peace,  having  thus 
given  the  loud  laugh  of  contempt  for  the  noble  sentiment  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man, — these  eminently  respectable  canni- 
bals by  means  of  their  bond  purchases  having  adjusted  their 
scornful  lips  to  the  veins  of  the  far-away  working  class  of 
Japan — are  satisfied;  and  for  a  generation  they  will  suck  and 
tug — like  beautiful  tigers  at  the  throats  of  common  work 
horses — will  suck  the  industrial  blood  of  the  working  class 
they  despise. 

This  blood-sucking  process  will  be  called  "business." 
The  blood  they  suck  will  be  called  "interest." 
These  gilt-edged  cannibals  will  continue  to  be  called  "the 
very  best  people  of  San  Francisco." 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  147 

Their  occasional  contribution  to  Cliristian  missionary  work 
in  Japan  will  be  called  "splendid  generosity." 

Their  "views"  on  the  "harmony  of  capital  and  labor"  will 
be  quoted  in  many  capitalist  newspapers  as  "sound  advice." 

And,  strangely  enough,  these  smooth  murderers — particeps 
criminis — will  actually  go  unhung,  such  is  the  irony,  of  the 
present  order. 

And  these  distinguished  abettors  of  international  assassina- 
tion will — with  crafty  thoughtfulness — occasionally  visit  the 
armories  and  barracks  in  San  Francisco  and  carefully  flatter 
the  working  class  militia  and  the  working  class  "regulars." 
flatter  them  into  the  folly  of  standing  guard  for  those  who 
despise  and  betray  and  bleed  the  working  class  of  the  whole 
world. 

Brothers,  will  you  be  tricked  to  the  trenches,  march  in  the 
mud,  murder  your  class  and  bleed  yourselves  for  such  as 
these?  Will  you  stand  at  "attention"  for  these  international 
leeches  ?    What  about  loyalty  to  your  own  class  ? 

Concerning  these  international  bond-buying  leeches  the 
Eeverend  Dr.  Walter  Walsh  writes  :* 

"By  the  very  condition  of  its  existence  international  capital- 
ism has  no  country — save  Eldorado;  no  king — save  Mammon;  no 
politics — save  Business.  .  .  .  Mammon  worshippers  of  all  nations 
forswear  every  allegiance  whensoever  and  in  whatsoever  part  of 
the  world  it  clashes  with  their  allegiance  to  capital  and  interest; 
that  heterogeneous  and  polyglot  crowd  of  millionaires,  exploiters, 
money-lenders,  gamblers  ...  or  the  adoring  circle  of  political  women 
who  worship  them — being  moved  by  no  other  consideration  than 
profit  and  loss.  .  .  .  By  the  transference  of  its  investments  from 
native  to  foreign  countries  capitalism  ceases  to  be  national  .  .  .  this 
bloated  order  of  capitalism." 

The  English  philosopher,  Frederic  Harrison,  hands  these 
international  profit-gluttons  the  following  compliment:! 

"Turn  which  way  we  will,  it  all  comes  back  to  this — that  we 
are  to  go  to  war  really  for  the  money  interests  of  certain  rich  men. 
.  .  .  All  this  is  very  desirable  to  the  persons  themselves.  But  it 
is  not  the  concern  of  this  country  to  guarantee  them  these  profits, 


*  The  Moral  Damage  of  War,  pp.  332-33. 
■^National  and  Social  Problems,  pp.  211-12. 


148  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

privileges  and  places.  It  would  be  blood  guilt  in  this  country  to 
enforce  these  guarantees  at  the  cost  of  war.  The  interests  of  these 
rich  and  adventurous  persons  are  not  British  interests;  but  the 
interests  of  certain  British  subjects.  And  between  their  interests 
and  war  and  conquest,  domination  and  annexation — how  vast  is  the 
gulf." 

"War  seldom  enters  but  where  wealth  allures." — Dryden:  "Hind 
and  Panther." 

"Gold  and  power  the  chief  causes  of  war." — Tacitus:  History, 
Book  4. 

"A  great  and  lasting  war  can  never  be  supported  on  this  prin- 
ciple [patriotism]  alone." — George  Washington:  In  a  letter  to 
John  Bannister,  April  21,  1778. 

"Let  the  gulled  fool  the  toils  of  war  pursue 
Where  bleed  the  many  to  enrich  the  few." 

— Shenstone:    "Judgment  of  Hercules." 

"When  wars  do  come,  they  fall  upon  the  many,  the  producing 
class,  who  are  the  suflferers."* 

Seventh  illustration:  The  American  CossACK.f 

"The  man  on  horseback"  has  always  typified  despotism. 
He  means  "Silence !"  to  all  opposition.  He  is  the  assassin  of 
discussion  and  the  destroyer  of  democracy.  Historically  he  has 
usually  been  the  ambitious  general  usurping  political  powers 
and  becoming  an  autocrat.  He  has  always  been  dreaded  by 
all  who  have  worked  for  the  progress  of  freedom.  "The  man 
on  horseback"  has  ceased  to  be  a  myth  in  America.  He  has 
been  recreated  by  the  Neros  of  American  capitalism  whom  he 
proudly  serves  for  rations  and  flattery,  the  pet  of  the  "cap- 
tains of  industry." 

The  Tsars  of  Russia  have  used  the  Cossack  and  recommend, 
him  to  all  the  rulers  of  the  world. 

The  American  Cossack  has  been  on  duty  for  several  years 
in  some  parts  of  the  United  States.  He  is  shameless,  danger- 
ous, effective.  He  will  probably  be  multiplied  by  thousands, 
in  numbers,  and  by  infinity,  in  insolence, — within  the  next 
ten  years — in  the  United  States.  He  must  be  understood — 
by  the  worTcing  class.    Here  is  a  sample : 

*  Gen.  U.   S.   Grant.     Compare   also   Grant's  comment  on   the 
cause  of  the  Mexican  War:    Memoirs,  Vol.  I. 
■f  See  Chapters  Seven,  Section  7-12. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  149 

In  the  anthracite  coal  strike  of  1902,  145,000  humble 
miners  whose  average  income  was  $1.29  per  day,  struggled  for 
a  few  pennies  more  for  their  toil  with  which  to  feed  and 
clothe  themselves  and  their  families.  In  that  strike  the  fol- 
lowing brave  deed  was  done  by  a  mounted  militiaman,  an 
American  Cossack,  in  the  service  of  the  tyrants  who  own  the 
vast  stores  of  anthracite  coal. 

A  mounted  militiaman,  armed  with  a  modern  rifle  and  a 
powerful  revolver,  a  double  row  of  cartridges  and  a  club  in  his 
belt,  rode  pompously  through  the  street  of  a  mining  village, 
bravely  daring  the  unarmed  toilers  and  heroically  glaring  at 
the  humble  women  and  the  helpless  little  children  at  the  cabin 
doors.  Ready — with  him  fed,  petted,  armed,  mounted  and 
brutal — the  capitalists  were  ready,  ready  though  the  capitalists 
themselves  were  a  hundred  miles  or  ten  thousand  miles  away. 
That  AUTOMATIC  TUSK  of  the  capitalist  class  was  on  duty. 
Suddenly  he  cried  out  to  an  old  man,  a  "mine  helper,"  on 
strike,  an  old  veteran  of  the  Civil  War :  "Halt !" 

Then,  pointing  down  the  dusty  road,  "the  man  on  horse- 
back," the  American  Cossack,  said  to  the  hungry  old  man : 
"March !  Git !  Damn  you,  git !  Right  down  that  road  right 
now — and  keep  marching — straight  ahead  of  me !  Mind  you 
— I'll  be  right  behind  you,  you  damned  lazy  scoundrel !  Walk 
pretty — damn  you !  If  you  make  a  mis-step  or  even  look  side- 
wise,  I'll  put  a  bullet  through  you !    Now  march !" 

The  march  began  at  once.  Thus  this  well-dressed,  well- 
mounted,  well-armed  young  working  man,  an  American  Cos- 
sack, rode  hour  after  hour — for  half  a  day — a  few  steps  be- 
hind the  weary  old  wage-slave,  a  veteran  of  the  Civil  War, — 
on  and  on  in  the  hot  sun  for  many  weary  miles,  down  the 
Susquehanna  River  (in  the  direction  of  Gettysburg).  Finally, 
after  the  long  march,  the  noble  hero  on  horseback  called  out 
to  the  old  hero  on  foot,  "Halt !  Do  you  see  that  trail  over 
yon  mountain?  Yes?  Well,  now,  you  damned  old  cheap 
skate,  you  scratch  gravel  over  that  mountain — quick,  too ! 
And  let  me  tell  you  one  thing — if  you  ever  show  your  damned 
skinny  old  face  in  the  anthracite  coal  region  again,  we'll  shoot 
you  like  a  dog.    Now,  you  old  gray-headed ,  git 


150  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

up  that  mountain — git  up  that  mountain  and  out  of  sight  or 
I'll  shoot  you.    Go !" 

Wearily  the  old  Union  veteran  climbed  the  mountain. 
When  he  finally  got  away  from  his  noble  tormentor  he  sat 
down  to  rest — and  think — to  think  of  "our  free  country." 

Long  ago  that  old  gray  man — when  in  his  excitable 
youth — had  marched  proudly  under  the  "Stars  and  Stripes" 
on  gory  battlefields,  risking  all,  all,  to  defend  "his  country," 
and  his  dear  "Old  Glory."  Once,  he  told  me,  the  flag  was 
reddened  with  his  own  blood.  .  .  .  But  now  "Old  Glory" 
mocked  him.  Captains  of  industry,  capitalists,  industrial 
Caesars,  had  captured  the  flag  and  with  devilish  craftiness 
used  that  same  flag  to  defend  their  industrial  despotism. 
Sons  and  grandsons  of  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  were  now 
shrewdly  flattered  and  bribed  into  the  ignoble  role  of  Russian- 
izing America.  Sons  and  grandsons  were  becoming  Cossacks, 
and  they  cursed  his  gray  hairs  for  demanding  of  American 
capitalists  a  few  more  pennies  a  day  for  ill-fed,  ill-clad,  ill- 
housed  women  and  children  in  the  dismal  homes  of  the  miners. 
...  A  cursing  Cossack  wearing  khaki  and  flying  the  flag  vir- 
tually spat  in  the  old  veteran's  face. 

"A  cold-blooded  organization  that  [Pennsylvania]  State  Con- 
stabulary."* 

When  Decoration  Day  comes,  when  the  Fourth  of  July 
is  to  be  celebrated,  when  "patriotic"  displays  are  to  be  made 
— at  such  times — bankers,  big  business  men,  politicians  and 
statesmen — many  of  these — should  put  on  black  masks,  wrap 
themselves  in  black  flags,  and  sneak  (blushingly,  if  possible) 
down  into  dark  cellars  and  stay  there  during  the  celebration — 
with  their  memories  crowded  with  soldiers,  widows  and  or- 
phans brutally  wronged, — with  their  memories  crowded  with 
congresses  corrupted,  treasuries  looted,  lands  stolen,  charters, 
privileges  and  "good  things"  shamelessly  raped  from  the  un- 
seeing public  while  brave  but  deluded  working  men  agonized 
on  bloody  battlefields. 

And  on  such  days  the  working  class  should  shout  less 


New  York  Evening   Sun,   Editorial,  Feb.   24,   1910. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  151 

and  think  more.  "The  man  on  horseback"  should  have  some 
special  thought. 

And  the  working  class  are  thinking  to-day  more  than  ever 
before.  And,  thinking,  they  begin  to  see  that  hand-clapping, 
fife-playing,  drum-beating  and  buncombe  from  a  prostituted 
orator  are  neither  freedom  nor  justice,  nor  even  the-  sign  of 
such;  but  are,  rather,  just  what  Mark  Twain  called  them* — 
a  "bastard  patriotism." 

The  motive  of  the  young  men  who  voluntarily  join  the 
army  or  the  militia  is  possibly,  in  many  cases,  a  good  motive. 
Perhaps  they  do  not  see  the  tricks  of  the  string-pullers  behind 
the  scenes,  the  powerful  motives  of  the  industrial  masters  be- 
hind the  curtains.  It  is  not  always  easy  for  the  young  man  to 
realize  that  he  is  to  he  used  to  punish  the  half-nourished,  pale- 
faced  working  class  baby  that  vainly  tugs  weak-lipped  at  the 
withered  and  milkless  breasts  of  the  ill-fed,  ill-clothed,  dis- 
couraged working  class  mother.  However,  the  cheap  role  of 
the  armed  protector  of  industrial  parasites  is  becoming  more 
and  more  clearly  understood,  and  consequently  more  and  more 
disgusting  to  the  entire  working  class — including  both  the  mi- 
litia and  the  regulars  themselves.    Light  is  breaking  in  the 

TOILEES'  mind.  ThE  HIDEOUS  BUSINESS  OF  STANDING  READY 
TO  BAYONET  THE  MILLIONS  OP  MEN  AND  BOYS  AND  WOMEN 
AND  GIRLS  WHOSE  LIVES  ARE  MADE  UP  OF  MEANLY  PAID  DRUDG- 
ERY  THIS    VILE    BUSINESS    IS    RAPIDLY    SINKING    BELOW    THE 

LEVEL  OF  CONTEMPT.  StRONG  YOUNG  FELLOWS  IN  THE  ARMY 
AND  THE  MILITIA  AND  THE  NAVY  INCLINE  MORE  AND  MORE  TO 
LINE  UP  WITH  THEIR  OWN  CLASS,  THE  WORKING  CLASS,  AND 
REFUSE  TO  ASSASSINATE  THEIR  BROTHERS  WHO  ARE  STRUG- 
GLING FOE  A  FEW  PENNIES  ADVANCE  IN  WAGES. 

They  see  the  trick. 

Some  of  the  militiamen  resigned  in  the  anthracite  coal 
strike  of  1902,  resigned  when  they  realized  that  they  were 
being  used  simply  as  watchdogs  for  industrial  masters  who 
were  cheating  even  the  little  ten-year-old  boys  in  the  coal- 
breakers,  cheating  even  these  little  fellows  whose  fingers,  worn 


la  sua  address,  New  York,  May  25,  1908.. 


152  WARr-WHAT  FOR? 

through  the  skin,  were  bleeding  on  the  coal  they  sorted  with 
their  hands. 

That  was  in  Republican  Pennsylvania. 

Not  long  ago  when  the  street  railway  union  men  were  on 
strike  in  New  Orleans  some  of  the  militiamen,  with  splendid 
contempt  and  defiance,  threw  their  rifles  down  on  the  cobble- 
stones rather  than  obey  orders  to  shoot  their  old  neighbors  who 
were  struggling  for  a  larger  share  of  life. 

That  was  in  Democratic  Louisiana. 

Workingmen,  both  Democrats  and  Eepublicans,  begin  to 
see  the  trick. 

Thousands  of  young  men  desert — and  thousands  more 
would  like  to  desert — the  United  States  army  every  yjar. 
They  cannot  stand  the  snubs  and  sneers  of  their  "superior 
officers,"  and  the  contempt  now  increasingly  felt  by  the  work- 
ing class  for  the  armed  handy  man  serving  as  a  fist  for  the 
ruling  class. 

So  many  young  men  in  America  understand  the  working 
class  soldier's  disloyalty  to  his  own  class  that  the  Department 
of  Murder  now  has  much  difficulty  in  keeping  the  ranks  full. 
The  Government  now  has  to  tease  and  coax  young  men  to  join 
the  army  and  the  navy.  In  the  autumn  of  1907,  the  capitalist 
press  began  to  discuss  boldly  the  necessity  of  conscription  for 
filling  the  ranks  of  our  standing  army,  the  European  plan  of 
forcing  young  men  to  assume  the  role  of  armed  flunkies.  But 
just  as  the  capitalist  papers  began  to  discuss  and  commend 
compulsory  military  service,  the  panic,  the  hard  times,  broke 
upon  the  country;  hundreds  of  thousands  were  suddenly 
thrown  out  of  employment.  Instantly  the  Government  and 
the  capitalist  papers  ceased  discussion  of  conscription,  knowing 
well  that  thousands  of  jobless  men  could  easily  be  recruited 
to  save  themselves  from  rags  and  hunger.  At  the  same  time 
Congress  advanced  the  pay  of  regular  soldiers — while  millions 
of  toilers  were  out  of  work,  millions  were  reduced  to  "part 
time,"  millions  had  their  wages  cut:  the  destroyers'  wages 
were  advanced,  but  the  producers'  wages  were  cut  down. 

These  facts  made  millions  think.  Thinking  whets  the  edge 
of  the  working  class  mind.    This  sharpened  mind  cuts  through 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  153 

the  noisy  mockery  and  the  glittering  sham  of  capitalist 
patriotism. 

The  workers  wake.    They  see  the  trick. 

Volunteers  ? 

"The  British  volunteer  army  is  in  reality  recruited  to  the 
extent  of  80  per  cent,  by  the  peril  of  starvation.  The  yearly 
average  of  desertions  from  the  British  Regular  Army  is  7,000."* 
The  writer  of  the  present  volume  has  heard  of  young  men 
volunteering  for  the  American  Regular  Army  who  enlisted  in 
the  fall  and  deserted  in  the  spring,  some  of  them  doing  this 
even  three  times.f  The  capitalists  would  not  hire  them  and 
they  were  too  proud  to  beg.  They  "wintered"  in  the  army. 
But  they  despised  the  whole  thing. 

They  see  the  trap. 

A  Workingman's  Meditations:  "We  Appreciate  It." 

In  time  of  peace  the  "leading  citizens"  give  us  horny- 
handed  working  people  the  cold  gaze — socially.  We  are  not 
invited  to  dine  with  them — socially,  or  dance  with  them — 
socially,  or  otherwise  visit  with  them — socially.  They  say  we 
are  ignorant  and  coarse-grained — socially;  and  they  turn  us 
down  "cold  and  hard" — socially,  in  time  of  peace.  But  in 
time  of  war  these  "very  best  people"  don't  neglect  us  so  much 
— and  we  appreciate  it.  Then  the  "best  people"  give  us  glad, 
stimulating  glances  and  speak  up  kindly — and  we  appreciate 
it.  They  tell  us  we  are  brave  and  intelligent  and  patriotic — • 
and  we  appreciate  it.  They  tell  us  that  soldier  clothes  look 
good  (on  us) — and  we  appreciate  it.  Wlien  our  newly  en- 
listed working  class  company  are  ready  to  go  away  to  war  the 
bankers  and  the  other  big  business  men  chip  in  a  quarter 
apiece  to  get  the  brass  band  out  to  give  us  a  "send  off" — and 
we  appreciate  it.  The  bankers  and  the  big  business  men  and 
the  band  go  down  to  the  railway  station  with  us:  we  grin, 
then  they  smile — and  we  appreciate  it.    As  our  train  of  dirty 


•  British  authority  for  this  statement;   but  exact  citation  un- 
fortunately lost. 

•f  But  see  Index :    "Desertion;" 


154  WAR^WHAT  FOR? 

old  second-class  coaches  pulls  away  we  look  out  through  the 
car  windows  and  see  the  bankers  and  the  other  leading  citizens 
waving  their  soft  white  hands  and  sweetly  smiling  at  us,  say- 
ing, "You  are  the  very  thing" — and  we  appreciate  it.  The 
"best  people"  know  we  are  going  to  feast  on  embalmed  beef 
and  show  our  patriotism :  they  wipe  their  eyes  sympathetically 
— and  we  appreciate  it.  The  "best  people"  modestly  and 
courteously  remain  at  home  in  order  that  we  working  people 
may  have  all  the  honor  and  glory  of  butchering  and  being 
butchered — and  we  appreciate  it.  The  "best  people,"  with 
beautiful  forethought,  give  us  working  people  the  blessed 
privilege  of  leaving  our  homes  lonely,  leaving  our  wives  deso- 
late and  widowed,  our  children  orphaned — and  we  appreciate 
it.  The  "leading  citizens"  fraternally  let  us  working  people 
do  the  fighting  and  the  bleeding  and  the  dying  for  the  coun- 
try— and  we  appreciate  it  so  much.  With  gracious  manner 
these  "prominent  people"  show  us  a  "hot  time"  and  tell  us  to 
"^0  to  it" — and  we  appreciate  it.  With  melting  tenderness 
the  "very  best  people"  give  us  working  people  the  "hot  air" 
and  the  "frosty  lemons" — and  we  begin  to  appreciate  the  trick. 

When  the  southern  slave-driver  gave  the  slave  fifteen  lashes 
instead  of  sixteen  the  slave  appreciated  it. 

Eeader,  in  nearly  every  country  in  Europe,  in  America — in 
all  parts  of  the  civilized  world — the  workers  are  having  their 
eyes  opened.  They  begin  to  understand  the  crafty  flattery  of 
the  dollar-marked  patriots  who  never  get  on  the  firing  line. 

a  special  warning  to  the  working  class  of  the 
United  States: 

Open  wide  your  eyes,  brothers — and  sisters. 

The  next  trick-to-the-trenches  is  being  prepared. 

There  is  talk  of  peace — but  preparation  for  war. 

For  more  than  twenty-five  hundred  years  the  great  sea 
wars  have  been  fought  on  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  the  Medi- 
terranean Sea.  The  bottoms  of  these  oceans  are  strewn  with 
shattered  ships  and  human  bones. 

But  the  vast  butcherings  at  sea  in  the  near  future  will 
probably  be,  most  of  them,  on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  155 

Like  hungry  wolves  hotly  eager  in  sight  of  prey,  like  clouds 
of  vultures  swooping  confidently  over  a  field  strewn  with  a 
vile  feast — thus  the  capitalist  nations  are  gathering  together 
their  drums,  their  rifles,  cannon,  dynamite,  lyddite,  embalmed 
beef,  hospitals,  soldiers,  marines,  battleships,  and  boat-de- 
stroyers, preparing  to  assemble  on  the  Pacific  Ocean  for  bloody 
struggles. 

There  is  talh  of  peace — but  preparation  for  war. 

What  for  ? 

Simply  to  secure  more  opportunity  to  make  more  profits 
for  more  money-hungry  cowards,  who  will  loll  at  home — safe 
— while  the  "brave  boys"  do  the  fighting. 

There  is  talk  of  peace — and  preparation  for  war. 

What  for? 

Eastern  Asia  is  the  prize. 

Working-class  boys  everywhere  who  are  socially  snubbed  at 
home — and  even  turned  down  at  the  factory — these  boys  will 
join  the  armies  and  the  navies  of  the  world  for  these  future 
struggles.  Huge  guns  will  roar,  big  shells  will  boom  across 
the  waves,  splendid  ships  will  shudder,  then  plunge  to  the 
bottom  of  the  deep,  filled  with  boys  enticed  from  the  homes  of 
the  humble.     The  sharks  will  send  the  innocents  to  the  sea. 

It  will  be  "great"  and  "glorious."    Very. 

And  especially  profitable :  which  is  the  main  thing. 

Perhaps  your  own  bones  or  your  son's  bones  will  bleach  at 
the  bottom  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

The  fundamental  cause  of  these  future  wars  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean  and  in  Eastern  Asia,  the  cause,  will  be  ignored  or  con- 
cealed by  all  International  Peace  Conferences  and  Conven- 
tions. And,  afraid  to  admit  the  cause,  they  can  not  treat  the 
cause  of  these  wars ;  they  will  thus  be  unable  to  prevent  these 
wars — these  wolfish  struggles  for  Eastern  Asia  as  a  capitalist 
prize.  The  leading  capitalist  citizens  of  the  world  have  no  con- 
fidence in  these  International  Peace  Conferences.  Therefore 
they  continue  building  more  cannon,  more  battleships  and 
more  than  ever  they  are  teasing  the  boys — our  own  younger 
brothers  of  the  working  class — teasing  them  on  board  these 
great  butchering  machines. 


156  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Warn  your  neighbor — right  away. 

More  and  more  defiantly  the  purpose  is  announced.  In 
the  year  1908  the  President  of  the  great  American  "Republic" 
uttered  an  imperial  fiat — and  lo!  18  battleships,  8  armored 
cruisers  and  a  flock  of  torpedo-boat  destroyers,  with  thousands 
of  cheap  and  humble  young  fellows  on  board, — a  fleet  of 
butchering  machines  with  the  butchers  aboard — pompously 
steamed  'round  the  earth  on  a  forty-five  thousand-mile  cruise 
and  carouse,  meaning — meaning  what?    Precisely  this: 

The  capitalists  of  the  United  States  are  prepared  with 
"civilized"  weapons,  a  shark's  appetite  and  a  tiger's  methods, 
to  conquer  a  lion's  share  of  the  vast  profits  to  be  wrung  from 
Eastern  Asia  if  they  can  find  enough  gullible  jackies  to  do 
the  fighting. 

Be  warned — you  toilers  in  the  mills  and  mines  and  on  the 
farms. 

"During  the  last  half  century,"  writes  Dr.  Josiah  Strong,* 
"European  manufactures  have  risen  from  $5,000,000,000  to  $15,000,- 
000,000.  This  increase  of  production  has  led  the  European  Powers 
to  acquire  tropical  regions  nearly  one-half  greater  than  Europe. 
But  while  European  manufactures  were  increasing  threefold,  ours 
increased  sixfold,  and  we,  too,  must  find  an  outlet. 

"All  this  means  that  the  great  manufacturing  peoples  are  about 
entering  on  an  industrial  conflict  which  is  likely  to  be  much  more 
than  a  'thirty  years'  war,'  and  like  all  war  will  cause  measureless 
misery  and  loss." 

The  interocean  Panama  Canal,  costing  our  country  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  dollars,  is  simply  one  part  of  the  American 
plutocrats'  plan  to  dominate  the  Pacific,  bleed  Asia,  convert  the 
"Republic"  into  a  still  less  veiled  despotism  for  conquest,  com- 
merce and  profits  to  stuff  the  pockets  of  the  modern  Caesars 
who  talk  of  patriotism  and  always  lust  for  gold. 

Mr.  William  H.  Taft,  in  an  interview,  spoke  thus  threaten- 
ingly in  1908 : 

"The  foremost  issue  of  the  coming  campaign  will  be  the  ques- 
tion of  expansion  and  the  affairs  of  our  insular  possessions. 

"The  American  Chinese  trade  is  sufficiently  great  to  require  the 
government  of  the  United  States  to  take  every  legitimate  means  to 

Expansion,  pp.   101-2. 


TRICKED  TO  THE  TRENCHES.  157 

protect  it  against  diminution  or  injury  by  any  political  preference 
of  any  of  its  competitors. 

"The  merchants  of  the  United  States  are  being  aroused  to  the 
importance  of  their  Chinese  export  trade  and  will  view  political 
obstacles  to  its  expansion  with  deep  concern.  This  feeling  of  theirs 
would  be  likely  to  find  its  expression  in  the  attitude  of  the  United 
States  Government. 

"The  Japanese  have  no  more  to  do  with  our  policy  as  a  people 
than  any  other  nation.  If  they  have  or  develop  a  policy  that  con- 
flicts with  ours,  that  is  another  matter.  .  .  . 

"I  am  an  advocate  of  a  larger  navy."* 

There  is  talk  of  peace — but  preparation  for  war. 

But  mark  it  well,  brothers  of  the  working  class :  Mr.  Taft's 
sons  will  not  be  butchered  as  cheap  American  marines  fight- 
ing on  the  Pacific  Ocean  for  a  larger  market  for  American 
capitalists.  No  capitalist  shark  shall  make  a  sucker  of  his 
sons  and  tease  them  to  the  sea.  Mr.  Roosevelt's  sons,  Mr. 
Bryan's  sons,  and  the  sons  of  Senators  and  of  Congressmen, 
the  sons  of  bankers,  great  merchants  and  manufacturers — the 
flesh  of  these  will  never  rot  at  the  bottom  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
No,  oh,  no.  Scarcely.  They  are  too  proud  and  shrewd  to  do 
anything  of  the  sort — for  fifty  cents  a  day.  The  mothers  and 
sisters  and  sweethearts  of  these  thoroughbred  boys  will  never 
weep  in  homes  made  desolate  by  the  thoughts  of  skulls  of  loved 
ones  shining  and  grinning  at  the  bottom  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Brothers,  I  warn  you. 

"Tell  them  who  are  so  fond  of  touring  around  the  globe  to 
import — (I  would  rather  say  to  inflict) — their  civilization  on  the 
backward  nations  and  tribes,"  says  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,f  "tell 
them  that  you  want  civilization  here  at  home,  if  you  can  get  it  genu- 
ine. .  .  .  Tell  them  that  there  are  fifty  burning  social  questions 
at  home  to  solve.  .  .  .  Tell  these  noisy  philanthropists  .  .  .  whilst 
'civilization'  is  making  the  tour  of  the  world  on  board  iron-clads, 
with  eighty-ton  guns,  civilization  is  terribly  wanted  ...  at  home. 
.  .  .  Therefore  it  is,  I  say,  that  peace,  international  justice,  and 
quiet  relations  with  all  our  neighbors,  are  first  of  all  the  interest 
of  the  workingmen  .  .  .  they  lose  most  heavily  by  war,  both  in  what 
they  immediately  suffer  and  in  what  they  have  to  surrender.  They 
may  leave  their  bones  to  wither  in  distant  lands,  but  they  bring 


*  Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 

fNafioval  and  Social  Problems,  pp.  186-88, 


158  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

back  no  fortunes,  no  honors  ...  no  new  honors  for  their  class. 
They  only  can  speak  out  boldly  and  with  the  irresistible  voice  of 
conscience,  because  they  only  have  no  interest  in  injustice,  nothing 
to  gain  by  conquest,  and  everything  to  lose  by  interference." 

Eefuse,  brothers,  refuse.  Be  proud.  Eefuse.  Stand  by 
your  own  class.  Refuse.  Bankers  refuse.  Manufacturers  re- 
fuse. All  the  shrewd  "prominent  people"  refuse.  You  also 
should  refuse  to  let  your  flesh  rot  and  your  bones  bleach  at 
the  bottom  of  the  ocean  in  the  interest  of  these  international 
leeches. 

Lift  up  your  meek  faces,  you  tricked  toilers  of  the  world. 
The  war  trenches  are  yawning  for  your  lives — a  gulf  in  which 
the  hopes,  the  happiness,  the  blood  and  the  tears  of  your  class 
will  be  swallowed. 

Eefuse. 

When  you  understand,  brothers,  you  will  defend  yourselves. 

The  day  is  dawning  when  the  working  class  will  not  only 
shrewdly  refuse  to  be  tricked  to  the  trenches,  but  will  also 
proudly  seize  all  the  powers  of  government  in  defense  of  the 
working  class.  The  working  class  must  defend  the  working 
class.  The  state,  the  school,  the  press,  the  lecture  platform, 
and  even  part  of  the  church,  all  these  powerful  institutions, 
are  at  present  used  to  fasten  and  hold  the  burdens  of  toil  and 
the  curse  of  war  on  the  backs  of  the  brutalized  and  despised 
working-class  producers  and  the  working-class  destroyers. 

It  is  our  move,  brothers.  Have  we  sense  enough  for  self- 
defense?    See  Chapter  Ten :  "Now  What  Shall  We  Do  About 

itr 


CHAPTER  SEVE!T. 
For  Father  and  the  Boys. 

Following  are  "Topics  for  Discussion/*  commended  espe- 
cially to  working  men  as  themes  for  conversations  by  fathers 
(and  mothers)  and  sons,  daughters  also.  It  is  hoped,  too,  that 
many  of  these  themes  may  be  brought  up  for  discussion  by 
labor  union  bodies. 

The  reader  will  kindly  refer  to  the  footnote  on  page  13. 

The  divisions — or  "sections" — of  the  present  chapter  and 
of  the  succeeding  chapter  are  not  always  materially  related, 
and  for  the  author's  purpose  it  is  not  necessary  that  they  should 
be.  The  section  numbering  is  for  convenience  in  cross  refer- 
ence and  for  indexing. 

(1)  The  Tsar  of  Russia  and  Germany's  famous  general 
Von  Moltke  positively  refused  to  permit  the  young  soldiers 
to  see  Verestchagin's  pictures  of  war.  Why?  Because  the 
pictures  are  true:  they  look  like  hell.     Hell  is  not  alluring. 

"If  my  soldiers  should  think  carefully,  not  one  of  them  would 
remain  in  the  ranks." — Frederick  II. 

Did  you  ever  notice  the  attractive  pictures  of  well-dressed, 
well-fed  soldiers  and  marines  displayed  as  our  government's 
advertisements  for  army  and  navy  recruits?  The  pictures  are 
lovely.  They  are  intended  to  make  war  look  good  to  the 
young  and  hungry  wage-earners,  especially  to  those  out  of  a 
job.  But  let  me  tell  you :  Recently  when  a  crowded  transport 
reached  San  Francisco  back  from  the  Philippines,  some  of  the 
soldiers,  on  seeing  again  the  advertising  pictures  displayed  as 
decoys  in  San  Francisco,  shook  their  fists  at  the  pictures  and 
loudly  and  bitterly  cursed  them  as  part  of  the  bait  used  to 
lure  them  to  the  hell  of  war.  They  had  been  thinking  it  all 
over.  A  good  time  to  think  it  over  is  before  you  enlist — ^before 
you  agree  to  go  to  hell. 


160  WAR^WHAT  FOR? 

(2)  Comment  on  war : 

German  proverb:  "When  war  comes  the  devil  makes  hell 
larger." 

The  Eev,  Doctor  Albert  Barnes :  "War  resembles  hell." 

Bishop  Warburton:  "The  blackest  mischief  ever  breathed 
from  hell," 

Lord  Clarendon:  "War  ...  an  emblem  of  hell." 

William  Shakespeare:  "0,  War,  thou  son  of  hell." 

General  W.  T.  Sherman :  "War  is  hell." 

Well,  really,  it  does  seem  as  if  the  workingmen  should  at 
least  be  sharp  enough  to  stay  out  of  hell. 

Now,  since  "war  is  hell"  and  the  business  men  want  hell 
and  the  politicians  declare  hell — why  not  let  these  gentlemen 
go  to  hell  ? 

(3)  Suppose  we  should  have  two  laws  passed  and  sup- 
pose we  were  in  political  position  to  rigidly  enforce  these  two 
laws : — 

First  Law, — Kequiring  that  when  Congressmen  and 
Senators  are  elected  there  shall  be  elected  at  the  same  time 
an  alternate  for  each  and  every  one  of  the  Congressmen  and 
Senators  elected — to  fill  easily  and  promptly  any  vacancies 
that  may  occur  from  any  cause. 

Second  Law, — Eequiring  that  all  Senators  and  Congress- 
men who  vote  for  war  and  thus  "declare  war"  shall  be  forced, 
according  to  this  law,  to  instantly  resign  their  ofRces,  and,  by 
special  draft  provided  for  in  this  law,  be  forced  to  join  the 
army  immediately,  infantry  department,  and,  with  the  com- 
mon instruments  of  war  (rifles,  swords,  etc.),  fight  on  the 
firing  line,  as  privates,  without  promotion,  till  the  war  is 
finished  or  till  they  themselves  are  slaughtered. 

It  is  significant  that : 

"Universal  military  service,  adopted  by  all  the  great  states  on 
the  Continent,  in  imitation  of  Germany  [following  the  Franco- 
Prussian  War],  has,  by  making  the  young  men  of  wealthy  families 
join  the  army,  personally  interested  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ments and  parliaments  in  avoiding  war."* 


•Charles  Seignobos:    Political  History  of  Europe  Since   1815, 
p.  819. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  161 

When,  in  1909,  the  Spanish  War  in  Africa  became  intense 
and  dangerous,  the  Spanish  government  renewed  an  old  "ex- 
emption" law  permitting  wealthy  and  "noble"  and  elegant 
Spanish  gentlemen  to  send  substitutes  to  the  war  and  thus 
avoid  the  hell  of  the  firing  line  themselves.* 

Our  "Dick"  Military  Law,  passed  by  Congress  in  1903,  ex- 
empts Congressmen,  Senators,  judges,  etc., — also  (by  agree- 
ment with  the  State  laws)  preachers  and  priests — exempts  all 
these  from  the  clutches  of  the  War  Department,  though  that 
same  law  sweeps  millions  of  other  men — all  able-bodied,  male 
citizens  over  eighteen  and  under  forty-five  years  of  age — 
sweeps  millions  more  than  before  into  the  absolute  control  of 
the  Department  of  Slaughter.     (See  Section  11,  below.) 

Does  it  not  seem  that  if  war  is  good  enough  to  vote  for  or 
pray  for  it  is  good  enough  to  go  to  rifle  in  hand  ?  If  not,  why 
not? 

Those  who  vote  for  or  pray  for  blood-stained  victories  should 
be  forced  to  go  after  them,    (See  Chapter  Eight,  Section  14.) 

(4)  Mr.  Workingman,  would  you  for  any  reason  permit 
any  statesman  or  other  leading  citizen  to  compel  you  per- 
sonally and  individually  to  go  out  into  a  neighboring  pasture- 
field  and  open  fire  with  a  Winchester  upon  your  neighbor  who 
had  done  you  no  injury,  against  whom  you  felt  no  enmity? 
Scorn  the  thought ! 

Well,  suppose  you  are  multiplied  by  500,000  and  your 
neighbor  is  also  multiplied  ])y  500,000,  and  instead  of  a  neigh- 
boring pasture-field  you  have  a  neighboring  territory  on  the 
other  side  of  some  national  boundary  line,  and  no  quarrel,  no 
enmity,  no  injury  to  be  righted  between  the  two  groups  of 
500,000  workingmen — what  then  ?  Can't  you  see  the  point — 
till  you  have  a  bayonet  thrust  into  you  ? 

Suppose  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  and  the  Diet 
of  Japan  should  declare  war  against  each  other.  Why  not 
have  all  the  fighting  and  the  bleeding  and  the  dying  done  by 
the  Mikado  and  the  national  legislature  of  Japan  and  our 
President  and  our  national  legislature?     Simply  have  these 


Similar  practice  was  common  in  our  Civil  War. 


162  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

two  small  grotrps  of  glistening  strutters  forced  to  face  each 
other  with  rifles,  swords  and  Gatling  guns  out  on  some  nice 
level  county  fair-ground  or  big  cornfield — forced  to  furnish 
the  blood,  cripples,  corpses  and  funerals.  This  plan  would  be 
far  more  fun  and  less  worry  and  less  work — for  the  working 
class ;  it  would  require  so  much  less  time  and  money  and  blood 
and  tears. 

Take  the  last  great  war  between  Germany  and  France,  in 
1870-71.  The  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Emperor  of  France 
had  a  personal  quarrel  about  who  should  be  or  who  should 
not  be  the  new  King  of  Spain — which  was  none  of  their  busi- 
ness. They  got  "real  mad."  War  was  declared.  The  "honor" 
of  this  precious  pair  of  handsome  parasites  was  at  stake. 
Nothing  but  blood  would  wash  out  the  stain  upon  their 
"honor."  Of  course,  royal  blood  was  too  precious  for  this 
laundering  process.  "Noble  blood"  was,  of  course,  not  avail- 
able— for  such  purposes.  The  blood  of  common  working 
class  men  would  do  very  well  for  these  two  brutes  to  do  their 
washing  in.  They  were  too  cowardly  to  take  each  a  sword  and 
a  Winchester  and  go  out  behind  the  barn  or  into  the  woodshed 
and  "settle  it,"  risking  their  own  putrid  blood.  .  .  .  No — oh, 
no !  The  red  ooze  of  kings  and  nobles  is  not  to  be  wasted  as 
long  as  a  lot  of  cheap  wage-slaves  are  standing  around  willing  to 
be  butchered — with  pride, — for  the  experience  and  honor  of  it. 

"To  the  front!  To  the  front!  A  million  men  to  the 
front !" 

Instantly  a  multitude  of  the  strong  men  of  the  working 
class  blindly  rushed  to  the  front — as  ordered,  and  ashing  no 
more  questions  about  the  justice  of  the  war  than  the  cavalry 
horses  asked.* 

Did  the  working  people  of  France  and  Germany  have  any 
grudge  against  one  another?  Not  the  slightest.  But  they 
butchered  one  another  by  the  tens  of  thousands. 

It  is  true  that  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Emperor  of 
France  were  actually  in  this  war,  "at  the  front"  (somewhat — 
or  "as  it  were").    But  the  working  class  reader  should  not  be 


But  see  Index:  "Four  Historic  Events." 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  163 

deceived  by  that  fact.  The  King  and  the  Emperor  were  rarely 
in  any  danger  whatever — up  very  close.  They  "enjoyed"  the 
battles  from  the  high  ground  overlooking  the  slaughter — 
watching  bravely  through  telescopes. 

"How,  then,  did  the  Germans  capture  the  Emperor  at  the 
Battle  of  Sedaji?" 

His  troops  were  overwhelmed  by  the  Germans.  His  sol- 
diers swept  back — crowded  into  Sedan.  Five  hundred  German 
cannon  pounding  the  town  made  the  Emperor  long  for  home. 
He  did  his  grandest  deeds  of  heroism — in  trying  to  escape. 
He  hadn't  time  to  get  out  of  the  way.  Bravely  he  dressed  in 
women's  clothes  in  order  not  to  be  recognized,  hoping  by  a 
perfectly  ladylike  manner  to  get  back  to  his  throne  on  which 
his  heroism  would  be  more  apparent  and  his  martial  spirit 
more  assertive. 

(5)  Well-paid  federal  injunction  judges,  well-paid  gen- 
erals and  naval  officers  (and  their  widows)  are  provided  with 
liberal  old-age  government  pensions — to  make  sure  that  their 
last  years  may  be  absolutely  secured  against  toil  and  worry 
and  the  humiliation  and  social  damnation  of  poverty.  Now 
if  these  well-paid  men,  receiving  salaries  of  from  $2,000  to 
$12,500  a  year  for  many  years, — if  these  and  those  they  love 
should  be  carefully  protected  against  want  and  worry  in  their 
gray  old  age,  then  why  should  not  useful  industrial  workers 
who  serve  long  and  well  in  the  mills  and  mines  and  on  the 
farms  and  railroads  for  a  meagre  living  where  their  lives  are 
full  of  risk — why  should  not  these  also  be  made  absolutely 
secure  when  the  sunset  of  their  lives  draws  near?    Why  not? 

The  present  annual  cost  of  our  two  Departments  of  Mur- 
der— the  Army  and  the  Navy — (including  interest  on  war 
bonds  and  the  loss  of  the  "regular"  soldiers'  labor-power,  but 
not  including  the  military  pensions)  would  furnish  an  an- 
nual old-age  industrial  pension  of  more  than  $290  each  for 
one  million  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  people.  You 
old  men  and  old  women  of  the  working  class,  wouldn't  it  give 
you  a  feeling  of  peace  and  confidence  if  you  were  absolutely 
certain  that,  after  a  life  of  useful  labor  in  the  grand  army  of 
industry,  you,  every  pair  of  you,  would  receive  yearly,  not  as 


164  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

charity,  but  as  a  right  provided  for  all,  over  $580  ?  The  lives 
of  many  working  class  men  and  women  are  to-day  filled  with 
fear  of  hunger  and  rags  and  shelterless,  helpless  days  when 
they  pass  the  capitalists'  deadline,  the  employers'  "age-limit." 
Says  the  New  York  World  :* 

"The  unemployed  of  New  York  ask  that  on  Decoration  Day 
there  be  a  service  in  the  honor  of  the  workingmen  who  have  lost 
their  lives  at  the  post  of  duty.  Not  much  attention  has  been  paid 
to  the  suggestion.  .  .  .  These  are  the  legacies  which  a  people  devoted 
to  industry  have  received  from  an  ancestry  devoted  to  war.  The 
heroes  most  honored  in  all  ages  have  been  warriors,  and  yet  every 
generation  has  produced  countless  examples  of  devotion  and  sacri- 
fice remote  from  the  field  of  carnage. 

"More  than  any  other  great  nation  this  republic  might  be  ex- 
pected to  glorify  the  martyrs  of  industry,  whose  lives  have  been 
as  truly  for  progress  as  any  of  those  sacrificed  in  the  ranks  of 
armies.  There  are  many  dangerous  callings  in  which  the  risks  are 
as  great  as  those  of  war.  There  are  hundreds  of  thousands  of  work- 
ing men  and  women  fighting  fiercer  battles  daily  than  many  a  soldier 
ever  knew.  On  the  industrial  firing  line,  where  no  quarter  is  given  to 
the  invalid  or  the  incompetent,  courage  is  not  sustained  by  excite- 
ment and  passion,  and  there  are  no  illusions  of  fame  to  strengthen 
the  faltering  toiler  when  he  comes  face  to  face  with  defeat  and  death. 

"It  is  well  that  we  should  remember  the  fine  patriotism  of  our 
citizen  soldiers,  but  even  they  were  workers  before  they  were  warriors. 
If  we  would  celebrate  heroism,  it  is  to  be  found  all  about  us  in  the 
humble  stations  among  the  men  and  women — even  the  children — who 
toil" 

Think  about  this  matter,  carefully,  you  men  and  women  of 
the  working  class.  Discuss  it  with  your  children  and  your 
neighbors. 

(6)  The  owner  of  a  factory,  protected  by  law,  by  the  con- 
stitution, by  the  flag,  by  the  politicians  and  the  soldiers  and 
militia,  can  "turn  down"  a  skilful,  effective  wage-earner  be- 
cause his  hair  is  gray,  because  he  is  "too  old,"  is  "past  the  age 
limit" — even  though  his  old  wife  starve  for  support.  The 
"glorious  flag"  protects  even  such  vile  industrial  tyranny. 
The  flag  that  the  old  man  has  worshipped,  the  constitution  he 
defended,  and  the  politicians  he  voted  for — all  these  are  no 


May  21,  1909.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  165 

protection  for  him.    Thus  our  old  industrial  soldiers  arc  help- 
less even  though  the  industrial  tyrant  spit  on  their  gray  beard. 

(7)  The  patriotic  militiamen  and  the  "regulars"  often 
■ay :  "We  believe  in  protecting  property  in  time  of  strikes." 

How  much  property  have  you  ?  And  what  kind  of  property 
is  it  ?  Is  your  property  in  danger  ?  Indeed,  was  your  property 
even  remotely  threatened?  Do  those  who  own  the  property 
you  protect  actually  help  you  in  protecting  their  property — 
help  you  in  actual  struggles  where  the  lead  flies  ? 

American  capitalists  often  refer  to  the  "splendid  service" 
of  the  militia  and  the  regular  troops  in  Chicago  in  1894  in 
"protecting  railway  property  from  being  burned  by  the  strik- 
ers."   But  let  us  see : 

Certain  railway  companies  in  1894  knew  that  the  govern- 
ment of  Chicago  could  be  forced  or  "persuaded"  to  pay  for 
all  the  cars  destroyed  within  the  city  limits  during  the  strike 
by  claiming  insufficient  protection  of  property  had  been  fur- 
nished. If,  then,  hundreds  of  old  worn-out  cars  worth  "old- 
iron"  prices  could  be  destroyed  by  fire  within  the  city  limits 
during  the  strike,  and  if  the  railway  companies  could  by  trick- 
ery collect  from  the  city,  say,  $500  for  each  such  car  burnt,  it 
would  be  "good  business"  to  have  such  cars  set  on  fire  by  paid 
incendiaries.  The  burning  of  this  precious  property  would 
also  create  powerful  sentiment  against  the  strikers  when 
"played  up"  luridly  by  the  capitalist  newspapers.  Thus  there 
was  powerful  motive  for  having  the  precious  property  burnt. 
It  would  be  both  awful  and  profitable.  Employees  of  some  of 
the  railways  entering  Chicago  have  told  the  writer  that  old 
worn-out  cars  from  railway  shop  towns  far  out  in  Iowa  were 
actually  hauled  to  Chicago  and  burnt  within  the  city  limits 
in  1894. 

Did  you  know  that  in  1895  in  court  the  railway  union  men 
were  charged  with  burning  the  cars  during  the  strike;  and 
did  you  know  that  when  the  union  men  brought  into  court 
the  proof  that  detectives  were  caught  in  the  act  of  setting  fire 
to  cars,  court  adjourned,  and  the  case  has  never  been  called 
since,  though  there  has  been  a  standing  challenge  to  the  courts 
to  do  so  ?    Thousands  of  such  facts  as  these  are  suppressed. 


166  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

"It  is  in  evidence  and  uncontradicted,"  says  Carroll  D.  Wright,* 
"that  no  violence  or  destruction  of  property  by  strikers  or  sym- 
pathizers took  place  in  Pullman  [Illinois],  and  that  until 
July  3d  [when  the  federal  troops  came  upon  the  scene]  no  ex- 
traordinary protection  was  had  from  the  police  or  military  against 
even  anticipated  disorder." 

(8)  In  1907  there  was  a  bitter  strike  at  the  iron  mines  in 
northern  Minnesota.  In  all  the  "strike"  mining  towns,  ex- 
cept one,  armed  men,  "special  guards,"  were  officially  placed  on 
duty  at  once — ready  to  "keep  order,"  ready  to  "quell  the 
riots,"  etc.  In  Sparta,  an  iron-mining  town,  there  were  over 
three  hundred  men  on  strike,  hotly  eager  to  win  the  strike. 
But  the  strikers  and  the  town  officials  united  in  an  urgent 
request  that  no  special  armed  guards  be  sent  to  Sparta.  The 
strikers  and  the  town  officials  agreed  that  "the  guards  only 
stir  up  trouble,"  and  without  the  guards  they  could  and  would 
keep  order  themselves. 

Guards  were  sent  to  all  the  "strike"  towns  but  Sparta. 

Turmoil  and  bitterness  promptly  broke  out  and  continued 
for  weeks  in  every  "strike"  town  except  Sparta. 

There  was  no  trouble  whatever  in  Sparta  during  the  entire 
strike.  The  only  man  arrested  in  Sparta  for  disorder  during 
the  entire  strike  was  a  special  guard  that  sneaked  into  the  town 
and  got  viciously  drunk.  He  was  promptly  thrust  into  jail  by 
the  police,  with  the  glad  sanction  of  the  strikers,  and  on  the 
following  morning  he  was  escorted  to  the  town  limits  and 
forced  to  get  away  and  stay  away.  Another  day  during  the 
strike  several  special  guards  came  to  the  borders  of  the  town, 
plainly  seeking  trouble.    They  were  promptly  forced  to  leave. 

Well-fed,  well-paid,  well-armed  men  in  a  strike  town  ready 
to  bayonet  poor  fellows  struggling  for  crusts*  against  a  brutal 
corporation — simply  stir  up  trouble.  And  the  capitalist  em- 
ployers know  this  well. 

Surely  you  have  noticed  that  during  troublous  times  of 
strike  the  chief  use  made  of  police,  militia,  cossacks  and  "regu- 
lars" is  to  protect   the  haughty  employer   who   blurts  out: 


*  Report    of    the   United    States    Pullman    Strike    Commission : 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  Chairman. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  167 

"Nothing  to  arbitrate !"  He  would  promptly  come  to  terms — 
there  would  instantly  be  "something  to  arbitrate" — if  he  did 
not  feel  sure  that  the  toilers  would  be  promptly  jailed  or  shot 
if  they  became  maddened  in  their  fear  and  hunger  and  hu- 
miliation. 

(9)  You  must  have  noticed  that  in  turbulent  strike  times 
in  your  community  hungry,  humiliated,  angry  men  never  for 
a  moment  think  of  doing  the  least  damage  to  the  publicly- 
owned  school  houses,  the  publicly-owned  libraries  and  the 
publicly-owned  art  galleries  and  the  State  University  and  the 
publicly-owned  park.  You  see,  the  workers  are  in  a  more 
social  relation  to  this  social  property.  And  if  the  mills,  mines, 
factories,  and  railways  and  the  like  were  socially  owned  and 
socially  controlled,  the  workers  would  also  be  in  a  far  more 
social  relation  toward  this  socialized  indiistrial  property. 
Then  there  would  be  no  class  war  raging  around  the  mines 
and  shops.  Then  this  property  would  need  no  protection  from 
cheated,  hungry,  humiliated,  maddened  working  people  nor 
from  detective  crooks  in  the  service  of  capitalists  as  incen- 
diaries. Then  the  workers  could  not  be  haughtily  turned  down 
with  the  brutal  "Nothing  to  arbitrate !"  Then  indeed  there 
would  be  no  industrial  kings  and  emperors  to  demand :  "Bring 
out  the  Gatling  guns  and  the  cossacks !    This  is  our  business  !" 

Notice : 

Political  justice  is  impossible  under  a  political  despotism. 

Political  democracy  is  the  only  known  cure  for  political 
despotism. 

Industrial  justice  is  impossible  under  an  industrial  despo- 
tism. 

Industrial  democracy  is  the  only  cure  for  industrial  des- 
potism. 

Industrial  democracy  would  end  the  civil  war  in  industry. 

"The  right  to  rule  the  political  state  is  mine!" — says  the 
king. 

"You  are  wrong!"  answer  the  most  enlightened  people. 

The  king  steps  down.    He  must. 

The  people  step — up — to  power.    They  must. 

This  is  progress. 


168  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

"The  right  to  rule  in  industry  is  ours!"  say  the  capitalist 
industrial  masters,  the  industrial  kings. 

"You  are  wrong!"  is  the  increasing  answer  of  the  increas- 
ing multitude  of  the  increasingly  intelligent  members  of  the 
working  class. 

The  kings  of  capitalism  will  come  down.    They  must. 

The  working  class  will  go  up — to  industrial  democracy. 
They  must. 

This  will  be  progress. 

If  despotism  is  all  wrong  in  politics,  it  can  not  be 
all  right  in  industry. 

Increasing  democracy  is  on  the  increasing  program 
of  mankind. 

The  master  of  ceremonies  is  the  political  party  of  the 
working  class  to  secure,  to  inaugurate,  to  "render  the  next 
number  on  the  program," — industrial  democracy. 

This  is  the  "road  to  power." 

Forward !  Forward  !  On  ! — to  the  last  great  battle  in  the 
civil  war  in  industry. 

"Evolution  makes  hope  scientific." 

Evolution  leads  to  revolution. 

That  is  a  law  of  nature. 

Laws  of  nature  cannot  be  ignored,  suspended,  amended  or 
repealed. 

Learn  the  road  to  power,  great  splendid  multitude  of 
toilers. 

The  world  is  ours  just  as  soon  as  we  learn  the  road  to 
power. 

Prepare  for  the  revolution — and  Life.* 

(10)  That  there  is  civil  war  in  industry  under  capitalism 
has  concrete  illustration  in  the  facts  of  strikes  and  lockouts. 
Here  are  some  of  them  for  a  short  term  of  years — in  our  own 
country : — 

From  1881  to  1901  there  were  in  the  United  States  22,793 
strikes,  which  involved  117,509  establishments,  threw  6,105,- 
694  persons  out  of  employment  for  an  average  of  21  and  8/10 


See  Chapter  Ten  on  "What  Shall  We  Do  About  It?' 


170  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

days,  lost  these  workers  in  wages  $257,863,478,  consumed 
$16,174,793  in  assistance  from  labor  organizations,  and  lost 
to  the  employers  over  $122,731,121.  Of  these  strikes  less 
than  51  per  cent,  succeeded,  slightly  more  than  13  per  cent, 
partly  succeeded,  and  over  36  per  cent,  failed  altogether. 
During  these  same  years  there  were  1,005  lockouts  which  in- 
volved 9,933  establishments,  threw  504,307  persons  out  of 
employment  for  an  average  of  97  days,  lost  $48,819,745  in 
wages,  cost  $3,451,745  in  assistance  from  labor  organiza- 
tions, lost  for  the  employers  $19,927,983.  About  51  per  cent, 
of  these  lockouts  succeeded,  less  than  7  per  cent,  partly  suc- 
ceeded, and  about  43  per  cent,  failed.* 

"In  legalizing  labor  wars,"  says  Waldo  F.  Cook,f  "the  state 
virtually  recognizes  industrial  classes  as  belligerents;  and  enough 
time  has  now  elapsed  to  enable  one  to  say  that  the  long  series  of 
these  wars  and  their  highly  probable  continuance  for  an  indefinite 
period  under  present  conditions,  establishes  the  presumption  that 
the  wage-system  is  a  failure  and  must  sometime  be  replaced  by 
another,  which  will  not  produce  industrial  classes  with  hostile  in- 
terests and  exacerbate  society  by  their  class  antagonisms  and  hates. 
For  the  labor  war,  no  less  than  the  war  between  nations,  culti- 
vates prejudice,  bitterness  and  hatred — only  these  feelings  affect 
classes  within  a  nation  rather  than  the  nations  themselves  in  their 
relations  with  each  other.  .  .  .  Law  makes  violence  by  nations  right; 
law  makes  violence  by  strikes  wrong." 

"War  is  a  collision  of  interests." — General  Von  der  Groltz. 
(Quoted  by  Mr.  Cook,  above.) 

(11)  The  Dick  Militia  Law:  A  quiet  revolution. 
Everywhere  our  capitalist  government  prepares  to  serve  the 
capitalist  interests  in  the  "collision  of  interests," — in  the 
civil  war  in  industry. 

The  highest  literary  honor  that  can  come  to  an  officer  of 
the  United  States  Army  is  the  Gold  Medal  of  the  Military 
Service  Institution.  This  honor  was  won  in  the  year  1908 
by  Captain  Bjornstad  of  the  Twenty-Eighth  Infantry — with 


*  See  article  by  Labor  Commissioner  C.  D.  Wright:  North 
American  Review,  June,  1902;  also  R.  T.  Ely:  Outlines  of  Eco- 
nomics, Edition  of  1908.  pp.  397-98. 

■f  International  Journal  of  Ethics,  April,  1908. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  171 

an  essay  urging  a  standing  army  of  250,000  men  and  a  re- 
serve army  of  750,000  men. 

Would  not  the  following  be  a  fruitful  subject  for  discus- 
sion in  the  labor  union  halls :  What  is  the  connection  between 
the  threatening  increase  in  the  insulted,  starving  army  of  the 
unemployed  and  the  threatening  increase  of  the  bribed  stand- 
ing army? 

Study  and  discuss  this  matter  till  our  class  realize  that 
strong  men  of  the  working  class  are  bribed  with  bread  to  slay 
those  who  earn  bread. 

All  working  men  should  read  the  Annual  Report  made  by 
Mr.  Elihu  Eoot,  Secretary  of  War,  in  1902-3.  Mr.  Root, 
shrewd,  shameless  and  powerful  lackey  of  the  capitalist  class, 
forcibly  set  forth  in  his  Report  the  great  advantages  that 
would  result  (to  the  capitalist  class)  from  certain  almost 
revolutionary  changes  that  could  be  easily  made  by  vastly 
increasing  the  "State"  militia  forces  and  at  the  same  time 
constituting  these  "State"  forces  as  an  organic,  instantly 
commandable  part  of  the  national  army — to  be  used  precisely 
like  "regular"  troops  for  any  purpose  desired  by  the  capitalists 
in  control  of  the  national  government.  Mr.  Root's  Report 
attracted  instant  wide  and  favorable  attention.  The  capital- 
ists were  delighted.  The  workers  were  deluded.  Immediately 
the  Report  became  the  basis  of  the  "Dick  Militia  Law"  which 
was  passed  in  1903. 

The  author  of  War — What  For?  has  urged  capitalist 
editors  all  over  the  United  States  to  publish  this  law.  He 
has  offered  to  pay  for  space  at  liberal  advertising  rates  in 
which  to  print  from  ten  to  one  hundred  lines  of  this  law.  He 
has  not  succeeded  in  finding  a  capitalist  editor  who  would  thus 
reveal  the  treachery  of  his  class  lurking  in  this  law.  This 
law  is  a  rough-ground  sword  against  the  rousing,  rising 
working  class  in  the  United  States,  a  law  more  important  to 
the  working  class  than  any  other  law  passed  since  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century.  This  law  is  loaded  with  death  for 
the  workers  when  in  future  years  the  army  of  the  unem- 
ployed or  the  ill-paid  toilers  gather  around  the  mines  and 
factories  and  roar  for  work  or  bread.    Instead  of  work  they 


173  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

will  get  sneers.  Instead  of  bread  they  will  get  lead  and  steel 
— provided  for  by  this  Dick  Militia  I4W. 

The  capitalists  do  not  dare  permit  the  working  class  to  read 
and  study  this  "Dick"  law  in  the  newspapers.  Note  some  of 
the  features  of  this  law: 

The  purpose:  "An  Act  to  promote  the  efficiency  of  the 
militia  and  for  other  purposes" 

What  is  meant  by  "other  purposes"  will  become  clearer 
as  the  army  of  the  unemployed  grows  larger,  "Other  pur- 
poses"— exactly :  food  for  reflection  when  out  of  work  and 
hungry. 

Section  1, — "The  militia  shall  consist  of  every  able- 
bodied  male  citizen  of  the  respective  States,  Territories,  and 
the  District  of  Columbia  .  .  .  who  is  more  than  eighteen  and 
less  than  forty-five  years  of  age." 

The  males  of  military  age,  all  from  eighteen  to  forty-five  in- 
clusive, in   1890   numbered   13,230,168.* 

Section  4, — ".  .  .  It  shall  be  lawful  for  the  President 
to  call  forth  for  a  period  not  exceeding  nine  months  such 
number  of  the  militia  as  Tie  may  deem  necessary  .  .  .  and 
to  issue  his  orders  ...  as  he  may  think  proper." 

The  law  was  amended  with  an  iron  hand  during  the  win- 
ter and  spring  of  the  hard  times  of  1907-8,  when  millions 
were  thrown  out  of  employment  and  into  the  muttering, 
angry  army  of  the  unemployed.  For  example,  the  nine- 
months  limit  was  struck  out  of  Section  4,  which  is  more  food 
for  reflection — for  any  one  who  has  brains  enough  to  reflect 
with. 

Section  7, — "Any  officer  or  enlisted  man  of  the  militia 
who  shall  refuse  or  neglect  to  present  himself  to  such  muster- 
ing officer  upon  being  called  forth  .  .  .  shall  be  subject  to 
trial  by  court  martial,  and  shall  be  punished  as  such  court 
martial  may  direct." 

The  law  creates  a  vast  reserve  army  now  rapidly  being 
perfected.  The  law,  especially  as  amended  recently,  gives  the 
President  power  greater  than  is  possessed  by  some  of  the 


C.  D.  Wright:   Practical  Sociology,  p.  38. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  173 

most  dangerous  and  hated  tyrants  on  earth  to-day.  Issuing  a 
general  order  by  telegraph  and  post,  the  President  could  sud- 
denly place  under  orders  from  five  to  ten  millions  of  the 
strongest  men  in  the  land — including  the  strikers  themselves ; 
and  to  neglect  or  refuse  to  obey  such  orders  would  mean  a 
"court-martial"  trial  with  rigorous  punishment.  A  court- 
martial  jury  is  not  noted  for  gentleness;  famously  different 
from  a  jury  of  one's  "old  neighbors." 

Section  9, — "The  militia,  when  called  into  actual  service 
of  the  United  States,  shall  be  subject  to  the  same  rules  and 
articles  of  war  as  the  regular  troops."  That  is  to  say,  for 
the  time  they  are  "on  call,"  they  are  virtually  federal  soldiers. 

The  law  as  amended  by  Congress  in  May,  1908,  provides 
"that  every  officer  and  enlisted  man  of  the  militia  who  shall 
be  called  forth  in  the  manner  hereinbefore  prescribed  shall  be 
mustered  for  service  without  further  enlistment."  [Italics  in 
Eeport.] 

"The  call  of  the  President  will,  therefore,  of  itself  accom- 
plish the  transfer  of  the  organized  militia  which  is  called 
forth  by  him  from  its  state  relations  to  its  federal  relations. 
It  becomes  part  of  the  Army  of  the  United  States  and  the 
President  becomes  its  commander-in-chief. 

"The  President  is  the  exclusive  judge  of  the  existence  of 
an  emergency  which  would  justify  the  calling  forth  of  the 
Organized  Militia."* 

This  law  contains  twenty-six  sections,  every  one  of  which 
should  be  studied  carefully  by  the  working  class  of  the  United 
States.  The  Union  labor  bodies  should  urge  local  newspapers 
to  publish  parts  of  the  law  selected  by  the  unions.  The  more 
the  law  is  examined  the  more  food  for  reflection  will  be  found 
in  it.f 

The  English  capitalist  government  has  also  recently 
enacted  a  new  military  law,  a  species  of  "Dick"  law,  called  the 


*  See  Report  of  Secretary  of  War,  1908,  p.  155.  Italics  mine. 
G.  R.  K. 

I  An  excellent  edition  of  the  law  with  notes,  analysis,  history, 
and  suggestions  by  Mr.  Ernest  Untermann,  can  be  had  for  5  cents, 
of  any  Socialist  literature  agent. 


174  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Territorial  Force  Act.  This  law  transforms  a  "voluntary 
citizen  soldier"  into  a  "regular"  soldier.     Says  Justice:* 

"Under  the  new  act  the  Volunteer  must  'enlist'  and  serve  under 
'military  law.'  He  will  be  as  much  a  regular  soldier  as  a  Life 
Guard  or  a  Lancer,  and  can  be  called  out  to  shoot  down  strikers 
in  labor  disputes  as  was  actually  done  at  Featherstone  .  .  .  and  at 
Belfast  only  a  few  months  ago." 

"The  Volunteer,"  says  the  Morning  Post,  "will  no  longer  be  a 
citizen  soldier,  he  will  be  a  soldier  without  the  blur  of  citizenship. 
.  .  .  He  may  be  mechanic;  many  of  the  best  Volunteers  are  me- 
chanics. If  there  is  a  strike  in  his  works,  ordered  by  the  trade 
imion  to  which  he  subscribes,  and  if  the  Mayor  is  afraid  of  the 
Strikers,  and  wants  soldiers  to  shoot  them,  in  case  of  need,  the 
Volunteer,  renamed  'man  of  the  Territorial  Force,'  is  just  the  man 
he  wants;  and  the  bill  empowers  the  Mayor  to  call  him  out  for 
the  purpose." 

The  "Dick"  law  was  passed  by  capitalist  "friends  of  labor," 
of  course,  both  Eepublicans  and  Democrats ;  and  the  "Terri- 
torial Force  Act"  was  similarly  passed  by  capitalist  "friends 
of  labor,"  both  Liberals  and  Conservatives.  As  the  unarmed 
army  of  the  unemployed  grows  threateningly  larger  and  the 
armed  army  of  bribed  butchers  grows  larger — ready  to  mur- 
der those  who  starve — it  is  in  order,  in  "Old  England,"  in 
"New  America,"  everywhere  in  order,  for  the  working  class 
to  give  more  careful  attention  to  the  "good  men"  who  are  so 
tearfully  and  fearfully  "friendly  to  labor." 

(12)  Why  should  the  working  class  give  the  capitalist 
governments  a  free  hand  in  the  murder  of  the  workers? 
Why  not  rigorously  restrict  the  power  to  call  millions  of  men 
to  arms? 

What  would  happen  if  the  working  class  should  refuse  to 
fight? 

"That  'the  government  can  not  put  the  whole  population  in 
prison,  and  if  it  could,  it  would  still  be  without  material  for  an 
army,  and  without  money  for  its  support,'  is  an  almost  irrefutable 
argument.  We  see  here  ['in  passive  resistance,  not  simply  in  theory, 
but  in  practice']  at  least  the  beginnings  of  a  sentiment  that  shall, 
if  sufficiently  developed,  make  war  impossible  to  an  entire  people. 
.  .  ."t 


•London,  March  21,   1008. 

f  Miss  Jane  Addams:  Neicer  Ideals  of  Peace,  p.  232. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  175 

Four  points  to  be  emphasized  here : 

(1)  Eequire  all  the  school  teachers  to  teach  all  the  chil- 
dren to  despise  and  hate  war. 

(2)  Arm  everybody  or  nobody. 

(3)  Train  everybody  or  nobody. 

(4)  "The  right  of  the  people  to  bear  arms  shall  not  be 
infringed." — Constitution  of  the  United  States:  Third 
Amendment. 

(5)  The  working  class  should  diligently  study  the  folly 
of  requiring  one  regiment  of  the  working  class  to  fight  the 
united  and  class-loyal  capitalist  class  in  strikes. 

These  four  propositions  suggest  a  plan  that  would,  even 
under  capitalism,  render  the  working  class  far  less  helpless 
and  hopeless  than  they  are  at  present  in  their  class  struggle 
against  the  capitalist  class  of  masters  who  may  legally  order 
the  working  class  soldiers  to  fire  on  the  working  class. 

However,  the  triumphantly  effective  work  can  be  accom- 
plished in  this  matter  when — and  not  until — the  working  class 
have  seized  the  powers  of  government.  (See  Chapter  Ten, 
which  is  wholly  devoted  to  the  fundamentals  of  "What  to 
do.") 

It  is  significant  that  the  first  Secretary  of  War,  Henry 
Knox,  appointed  by  President  Washington,  made  a  Report 
January  18,  1790,  on  the  proper  basis  for  the  military  defense 
of  the  United  States.  His  plan  was  "to  reject  a  standing 
army,  as  possessing  too  fierce  an  aspect  and  being  hostile  to 
the  principles  of  liberty." 

A  scholar  of  world-renown,  Francis  Lieber,  German- 
American  soldier,  historian,  economist  and  publicist,  has  this 
to  say  of  standing  armies  :* 

"Standing  armies  are  not  only  dangerous  to  civil  liberty  be- 
cause depending  upon  the  executive.  They  have  the  additional  evil 
effect  that  they  infuse  into  the  whole  nation  ...  a  spirit  directly 
opposed  to  that  which  ought  to  be  the  general  spirit  of  a  free  peo- 
ple devoted  to  self-government.  Habits  of  disobedience  and  contempt 
for  the  citizens  are  produced,  and  a  view  of  government  is  induced 
which    is   contrary   to    liberty,    self-reliance,    self-government.    .    .    . 


Civil  Liberty,  pp.  116-117. 


176  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Where  the  people  worship  the  army,  an  opinion  is  engendered  as 
if  courage  in  battle  were  really  the  highest  phase  of  humanity;  and 
the  army,  in  turn,  more  than  aught  else,  leads  to  the  worship  of 
one  man — so  detrimental." 

(13)  "For  the  French  and  Italians  and  especially  the 
German  and  Russian  adolescent  of  the  lower  classes  .  .  .  the 
army  is  called  .  .  .  the  poor  man's  university."* 

"The  poor  man's  university !" — in  which  he  is  drilled  and 
kicked  into  spineless  subserviency  and  is  taught  the  noble  art 
of  killing  himself,  his  class,  scientifically.  The  degraded, 
docile,  and  despised  millions  of  the  working  class  men  of  the 
standing  armies  of  the  world  are  indeed  educated  when  they 
are  willing  to  wade  in  their  own  blood  in  defense  of  the  para- 
sitic capitalist  class  who  rule,  ride  and  ruin  the  toilers  of 
all  the  world. 

A  standing  army  is  a  joke  and  a  yoke  on  the  working 
class.  A  standing  army  is  a  compound  human  machine  edu- 
cated to  spank  the  working  class  when  it  cries  for  milk — and 
bread  and  meat,  A  soldier,  a  militiaman,  is  an  educated 
boot  with  which  the  employers  kick  the  working  class. 

(14)  Do  not  rich  men's  sons  sometimes  voluntarily  join 
the  militia? 

Yes,  sometimes — but  very,  very  rarely.  One  of  the  bluest- 
blooded  Vanderbilts  of  New  York  was  recently  a  captain  in 
a  specially  handsome  Regiment.  But,  mark  you — in  ninety- 
nine  cases  in  a  hundred,  well-armed,  well-trained  militiamen 
fight  unarmed,  untrained  workingmen  (and  women),  which 
is  not  so  very,  very  dangerous — for  the  militiamen.  To  an 
intelligent  rich  man  an  unarmed  wage-earner  on  strike  for  an 
extra  nickel  to  buy  bread,  as  "the  enemy,"  and  an  armed 
trained  soldier  whose  business  is  murder,  as  "the  enemy," — 
these  look  different,  you  know. 

For  years  New  York  millionaires  and  all  the  other  "best 
people"  "pointed  with  pride"  to  the  famous  Seventh  Regiment 
of  the  National  Guard,  the  "rich  men's  regiment,"  the  "gilt- 
edged  regiment"  of  lovely  young  millionaires,  many  of  whom 
rode  to  the  armory  for  drill  in  their  automobiles.    This  regi- 


*G.  Stanley  Hall:   Adolescence,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  222-23. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  177 

ment  of  the  American  nobility  of  lard-and-tallow-steel-coal- 
and-railway  millionaires,  ready  at  any  moment  to  defend  and 
save  the  dear  country  from  "the  enemy," — this  regiment  was, 
indeed,  the  pride  of  the  village  called  New  York.  These 
glistening  patricians  taught  the  common  people  patriotism. 
"So  they  did." 

Until  the  Spanish  War  broke  out. 

Then  these  fakir  patriots — what  did  they  do — then? 

Resigned. 

Or  they  did  what  amounted  to  the  same  thing — voted  not 
to  go  to  the  war. 

Certainly  they  did.    Promptly,  too — and  intelligently. 

Why  not? 

Surely  you  do  not  expect  a  lot  of  intelligent  men  to  leave 
their  happy  homes,  go  to  hell  and  make  themselves  ridiculous, 
do  you?  Why,  the  cost  of  a  rubber  tire  for  one  wheel  of  an 
automobile  would  pay  the  war  wages  of  a  cheap  man  of  the 
"lower  classes"  for  six  months. 

(15)   "Didn't  one  millionaire  go  to  the  war  in  Cuba?" 

Yes.  Out  of  our  six  thousand  patriotic,  flag-waving  mil- 
lionaires, one,  just  one,  a  young  green  one,  went  to  the  war 
in  Cuba — "for  a  little  excitement  and  a  lark,"  he  said.  He 
found  large  quantities  of  excitement  "all  right,"  and  some 
cold  lead.  He  was  killed.  As  a  millionaire  "patriotically'' 
going  to  war  his  case  is  an  exception,  clearly  an  exception,  a 
conspicuously  lonely,  vain  and  stupid  exception;  and  that 
exception  will  never  be  imitated.  Too  much  intelligence 
— among  the  millionaires.  Even  his  millionaire  friends 
laughed  at  him  for  going  to  war.  But  he  wanted  a  "hot 
time."    He  got  the  "hot  time" — and  the  cold  lead. 

There  were  several  thousand  other  millionaire  flag-wavers 
instructively  conspicuous  in  that  war — by  their  intelligent 
patriotic  absence. 

It  is  instructively  significant  that  the  capitalist 
newspapers  gave  more  than  a  hundred  times  as  much 
space  to  the  death  of  the  one  millionaire  soldier  in 
THE  Spanish-American  war  as  they  gave  to  the  death 


178  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

OF    ANY    HUNDRED    HUMBLE    WORKING    CLASS    SOLDIERS    WHO 
WERE   SLAUGHTERED  IN   THE   SAME   WAR. 

(16)  Were  not  some  of  the  rich  men  of  to-day  soldiers 
at  one  time — "years  ago"? 

Yes.  Some  of  the  rich  men  of  to-day  were  soldiers  at 
one  time — years  ago ;  but  they  are  not  soldiers  now  when  they 
are  rich,  and  they  were  not  rich  when,  years  ago,  they  were 
soldiers. 

(17)  If  politicians  do  not  go  to  war,  what  about  Mr. 
Bryan's  case?  Didn't  Mr.  Bryan  patriotically  go  to  the  war 
in  Cuba? 

No.  Mr.  Bryan  did  not  go  to  the  war  in  Cuba.  He  sim- 
ply went  toward  the  war. 

Mr.  Bryan  was,  of  course,  patriotic,  fervently,  noisily  so; 
but,  like  the  intelligent  people  of  his  class,  he  always  had  his 
enthusiasm  under  perfect  control.  Mr.  Bryan  at  no  time 
showed  an  unmanageable  desire  to  get  up  close  in  front,  on 
the  firing  line.  And  his  class  was  true  to  him,  respected 
his  strong  preference  for  war  five  hundred  miles  from  the 
flaming,  snarling  Catling  gun;  and,  accordingly,  his  class — 
in  power  at  Washington — kept  him  well  out  of  danger.  At 
one  time  he  got  the  impression  he  was  in  danger  of  being  sent 
to  the  front.  At  once  he  cried  out,  "It's  politics !"  and 
promptly  resigned  his  noble  command,  double  quick,  patri- 
otically. Mr.  Bryan,  mounted  on  a  splendid  horse,  with  up- 
lifted sword  in  hand,  grandly  vowing  to  "defend  the  flag 
against  the  enemy"  as  he  headed  his  noble  braves,  assembled 
for  review,  and  admiration,  before  the  Omaha  Bee  building, 
ready  to  start  toivard  the  front — at  that  sublime  moment 
Colonel  William  Jennings  Bryan  was,  well,  simply  beautiful, 
not  to  say  pretty.  As  the  golden  tones  of  this  Nebraskan 
Achilles,  this  Alexander  from  the  Platte  Valley,  rolled  forth 
in  his  heroic  vow  to  bleed  (if  necessary)  for  his  flag,  the 
nation  was  comforted — felt  saved  already. 

Patriotism  is,  after  all,  wortli  all  it  costs — that  is,  worth 
all  it  costs  Mr.  Bryan.  Mr.  Bryan,  like  Mr.  Hearst  and 
many  others,  is  patriotic,  even  intemperately  so — with  his 
mouth. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  179 

But  the  reader  may  ask,  "Was  not  Mr.  Eoosevelt  in  the 
Cuban  War  a  case  of  a  politician  actually  on  the  firing  line  ?" 

Clearly  an  exception.  Name  a  few  other  "great  states- 
men" or  international  noises  who  went  to  the  Cuban  War — to 
the  actual  firing  line. 

Mr.  Eoosevelt  loves  excitement  and  danger.  And  what 
indescribable  dangers  there  were  for  the  Americans  in  the 
Cuban  War!  The  mightiest  "republic"  on  earth  was  pitted 
against  the  most  toothless,  decadent  old  political  grandma 
in  Europe.  The  dangers? — equal  to  those  that  threaten  an 
armed,  athletic  hunter  alone  and  face  to  face  with  a  sucking 
fawn.  Mr.  Eoosevelt  himself  has  heroically — and  carefully — 
recounted  and  printed  his  own  brave  deeds  in  that  war. 
With  Christian  love  and  humility,  with  charming  modesty 
and  delicacy,  with  the  diffident  ingenuousness  of  a  blushing 
schoolgirl,  characteristic  of  him,  Mr.  Eoosevelt  tenderly  re- 
cites one  of  his  noble  deeds  as  follows  :* 

"Lieutenant  Davis's  First  Sergeant,  Clarence  Gould,  killed  a 
Spaniard  with  his  revolver,  ...  At  about  the  same  time  I  also  shot 
one.  •  .  .  Two  Spaniards  leaped  from  the  trenches  .  .  .  not  ten  yards 
away.  As  they  turned  to  run  I  closed  in  and  fired  twice,  missing 
the  first  and  killing  the  second  [Oh,  joy!].  .  .  .  At  the  same  time 
I  did  not  know  of  Gould's  exploit,  and  I  supposed  my  feat  to  be 
unique." 

Surely  it  requires  courage,  rare  and  noble  courage,  for  a 
wealthy  graduate  of  Harvard  University  to  boast  in  print 
that  he  shot  a  poor,  ignorant  fleeing  Spanish  soldier — very 
probably  a  humble  working  man  drafted  to  war,  torn  from 
his  weeping  wife  and  children — that  he  shot  such  a  man,  in 
the  bach.  Oh,  bliss — elation — ecstasy  divine!  "I  got  him! 
with  my  revolver  too!  in  the  hack!"  Manly  pastime  of  an 
American  gentleman,  a  mongrel  mixture  of  patrician  and 
brute.  Yes,  reader,  Mr.  Eoosevelt,  politician,  was  in  the 
Cuban  War — with  a  purpose ;  and  secured  a  military  title  and 
a  "war  record"  worth  at  least  75,000  votes  in  his  campaign 
for  the  governorship  of  Xew  York  which  immediately  fol- 
lowed the    war.     For    details    consult    The    Bough    Eider. 


*"  The  Rough  Riders,  p.  139.  Found  in  Edition  of  1899,  pub- 
lished by  Charles  Scribner's  Sons;  page  152,  as  published  by  G.  P. 
Putnam's  Soti.-;. 


180  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

With  shrewd  patriotism,  political  foresight,  rare  courage — 
and  girlish  bashfulness — Mr.  Eoosevelt's  picture  is  repeatedly 
presented  in  the  book,  the  poses  expressing  his  usual  audible 
modesty  and  ferocious  gentleness. 

Emerson  finely  says :  "Every  hero  becomes  a  bore  at  last.'* 
(18)   The  noble  Professor  Paulsen  (Berlin  University) 
wrote  :* 

"Hate  impels  men  to  seek  quarrels,  and  pride  turns  their  heads. 
.  .  .  Nay,  arrogance  and  hatred  are  really  always  the  signs  of  an 
irritable,  diseased  self-consciousness.  .  .  .  [That]  selfish,  arrogant, 
vain  and  narrow-minded  self-conceit,  which  the  flatterers  of  the 
popular  passion  call  patriotism." 

The    distinguished    Italian    historian,    G.    Ferrero,    has 

written  :t 

"Thus  in  destroying  or  creating,  man  can  procure  for  himself 
strong  emotions,  and  persuade  himself  of  his  own  superiority.  .  .  . 
Two  passions  have  divided  the  human  heart  throughout  the  annals 
of  human  history:  the  divine  passion  for  creation,  and  the  diabolical 
passion  for  destruction.  .  .  .  Nineteenth-century  man  may  seek  after 
violent  and  inebriating  emotions  that  permit  him  to  assert  his  su- 
periority over  his  fellows.  .  .  ." 

Robert  G.  Ingersoll  understood  the  hero-brute  mongrel: 

"Courage  without  conscience  is  a  wild  beast.  Patriotism  with- 
out principle  is  the  prejudice  of  birth,  the  animal  attachment  to 
place." 

Thus  Victor  Hugo^ 

"To  be,  materially,  a  great  man,  to  be  pompously  violent,  to 
reign  by  virtue  of  the  sword-knot  and  cockade  ...  to  possess  a 
genius  for  brutality — this  is  to  be  great,  if  you  will,  but  it  is  a 
coarse  way  of  being  great." 

The  cannon's  roar,  the  bayonet's  thrust,  the  crush  of  flesh, 
the  splash  of  blood, — such  things  in  battle  make  men  gentle, 
tender,  gallant,  even  heroic,  fit  subjects  for  the  adoration  of 
women. §  For  example :  When  the  Christian  heroes  captured 
Magdeburg : 


*  System  of  Ethics,  p.  660. 
■f  Militarism,   pp.   60-61. 
t  William  Shakespeare,  Pt.  3,  Bk.  3,  Ch.  I. 

§See  Chapter  Eight,  Section   11, — of  special  interest  to  women 
who  incline  to  be  "perfectly  delighted"  with  soldiers. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  181 

"Now  began  a  scene  of  massacre  and  outrage  which  history  has 
no  language,  and  poetry  no  pencil,  to  portray.  Neither  the  innocence 
of  childhood  nor  the  helplessness  of  old  age,  neither  youth  nor  sex, 
neither  rank  nor  beauty,  could  disarm  the  fury  of  the  conquerors. 
Wives  were  dishonored  in  the  very  arms  of  their  husbands,  daughters 
at  the  feet  of  their  parents,  and  the  defenseless  sex  exposed  to  the 
double  loss  of  virtue  and  life.  .  .  ,  Fifty-three  women  were  found 
in  one  church  with  their  heads  cut  off.  The  Croats  amused  them- 
selves by  throwing  children  into  the  flames,  and  Pappenheim's  Wal- 
loons with  stabbing  infants  at  their  mothers'  breasts."* 

But  it  may  be  said  that  those  things  were  done  far  back 
in  the  seventeenth  century.  Consider,  then,  the  fact  that  in 
the  French  civil  war  of  1871  the  government's  noble  heroes, 
having  conquered  the  revolutionists,  took  thousands  of  un- 
armed prisoners — men,  women,  and  children — to  an  open 
space  at  the  city  limits  of  Paris  and  shot  them,  children  and 
all ;  in  many  cases  the  brave,  armed  ruffians  stood  up  rows  of 
helpless  prisoners  one  behind  the  other  and  amused  them- 
selves by  testing  their  rifles  on  living  human  flesh,  noting 
how  many  men,  women  and  children  could  be  butchered  with 
one  bullet.  Many  of  the  ^'better  class,"  "refined  ladies  and 
gentlemen,"  "leading  citizens,"  conspicuous  by  their  elegance 
of  manners  and  dress,  were  present  watching  the  fun,  smiling 
encouragement  and  making  helpful  suggestions  to  the  "civil- 
ized" butchers. 

And  still  more  recently: 

A  British  hero  thus  describes  a  "funny"  incident  in  the 
South  African  war:  "Eeally,  sir,  I  never  saw  anything  quite 
so  funny  in  all  my  life,  oust  fancy,  I  saw  a  Kaffir  woman 
pick  up  the  headless  body  of  her  baby  and  strap  it  on  her 
back.  Funny,  oh.  Lord !  It  makes  me  laugh  when  I  think 
of  it  now."  The  same  authority  (the  Westminster  Review, 
quoted  by  Walter  Walsh)  also  gives  the  following  case  of 
Christian  military  heroism :  "A  contingent  of  German  scouts 
[in  South  Africa]  took  five  native  women  prisoners  ...  an 
officer  ordered  ten  men  to  fix  bayonets.  Five  stood  in  front 
and  five  behind  the  women,  and  stabbed  the  women  to  death." 


Quoted  by  Thomas  E.  Will,  Arena,  Dec,  1894. 


182  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Ten  armed,  Christian  heroes  with  bayonets  ripping  the  breasts 
of  five  unarmed  women.  Great !  Isn't  it  ?  At  least  it  is  war. 
One  scarcely  knows  which  to  despise  the  more — the  soldiers 
or  the  lazy  parasites  for  whom  they  committed  a  thousand 
crimes  of  basest  cruelty  and  cowardice.  Dr.  Walter  Walsh* 
lets  the  soldiers  tell  in  their  own  heroic  language  of  their 
manly  deeds — thus: 

"  'Our  progress  was  like  the  old-time  forays  in  Scotland  two 
centuries  ago.  .  .  .  We  moved  on  from  valley  to  valley  .  .  .  burning, 
looting  and  turning  out  the  women  and  children  to  sit  and  cry 
beside  the  ruins  of  their  once  beautiful  farmsteads  .  .  .  my  men 
fetched  bundles  of  straw.  The  women  cried,  and  the  children  stood 
holding  to  them  and  looking  with  large  frightened  eyes  at  the  burn- 
ing house.  .  .  .  The  people  had  thought  we  had  come  for  refresh- 
ments, and  one  of  them  went  to  get  milk.  .  .  .  We  then  set  the 
whole  place  on  fire.  They  dropped  on  their  knees  and  prayed  and 
sang,  weeping  bitterly  the  while.  One  of  the  poor  women  went 
raving  mad.  When  the  flames  burst  from  the  doomed  place  the 
poor  woman  threw  herself  on  her  knees,  tore  open  her  bodice,  and 
bared  her  breasts,  screaming,  "Shoot  me,  shoot  me,  I've  nothing  to 
live  for,  now  that  my  husband  is  gone,  and  our  farm  is  burnt,  and 
our  cattle  taken!'"" 

These  foul  deeds  are  samples  of  thousands. 
"War,  is  it?"  says  Dr.  Walsh.     "Be  it  war:  then  an  army 
is  a  manufactory  for  cowards  and  a  school  for  cowards." 

"A  war  hero,"  says  the  distinguished  Roman  Catholic  Bishop 
John  Spaulding,f  "supposes  a  barbarous  condition  of  the  race;  and 
when  all  shall  be  civilized,  they  who  know  and  love  the  most  shall 
be  held  to  be  the  greatest  and  the  best." 

And  Robert  Ingersoll  thus: 

"Every  good  man,  every  good  woman,  should  try  to  do  away 
with  war,  to  stop  the  appeal  to  savage  force.  Man  in  a  savage 
state  relies  upon  his  strength,  and  decides  for  himself  what  is  right 
and  what  is  wrong."t 

"Nothing  is  plainer,"  says  Emerson,  "than  that  sympathy 
with  war  is  a  juvenile  and  temporary  state."§ 

*  Moral  Damage  of  War,  pp.  146-47. 
■\  Education  and  the  Higher  Life,  p.  171. 
t  Works,  Vol.  IV.,  Dresden  Edition,  p.  124. 
§  "Lecture  on  War." 


FATHER  AND  TEE  BOYS.  183 

Dr.  John  Fiske,  historian  and  philosopher,  makes  the  fol- 
lowing observations  on  the  slow  grand  march  from  brutality 
to  brotherhood.* 

"For  thousands  of  generations,  and  until  very  recent  times,  one 
of  the  chief  occupations  of  men  has  been  to  plunder,  bruise  and 
kill  one  another.  The  .  .  .  ugly  passions  .  .  .  have  had  but  little 
opportunity  to  grow  weak  from  disuse.  The  tender  and  unselfish 
feelings,  which  are  a  later  product  of  evolution,  have  too  seldom 
been  allowed  to  grow  strong  from  exercise  .  .  .  the  whims  and  prej- 
udices of  militant  barbarism  are  slow  in  dying  out.  .  .  .  The  coarser 
forms  of  cruelty  are  disappearing  and  the  butchery  of  men  has 
greatly  diminished  ...  in  the  more  barbarous  times  the  hero  was 
he  who  had  slain  his  thousands.  .  .  .  And  thus  we  see  what  human 
progress  means.  It  means  throwing  off  the  brute  inheritance, 
gradually  throwing  it  off  through  ages  of  struggle  that  are  by  and 
by  to  make  struggles  needless.  Man  is  slowly  passing  from  a 
primitive  social  state  .  .  .  toward  an  ultimate  social  state  in 
which  his  character  shall  have  become  so  transformed  that  nothing 
of  the  brute  can  be  detected  in  it.  The  ape  and  the  tiger  in  human 
nature  will  be  extinct." 

How  encouraging!  We  can  confidently  look  forward  to  a 
time  when  not  even  a  pervert  candidate  for  the  presidency  of 
a  great  Christian  "republic"  will  be  either  tiger  enough  to 
butcher  a  human  being  or  peacock  and  monkey  enough  to 
brag  of  doing  so. 

"Who  loves  war  for  war's  own   sake 
Is  fool,  or  crazed,  or  worse." — ^Tennyson. 

"One  of  the  commonest  popular  mistakes  is  to  confound  ag- 
gressiveness and  belligerency  with  genius.  These  qualities  are  al- 
most in  inverse  proportion.  .  .  .  But  usually  great  energy  and  de- 
termination, and  especially  combative  qualities  are  associated  with 
rather  meagre  abilities."| 

There  is  really  too  much  bull-dog  greatness. 

"No  blood-stained  victory,  in  story  bright, 

Can  give  the  philosophical  mind  delight; 

No  triumph  please,  while  rage  and  death  destroy: 

Reflection    sickens    at   the    monstrous   joy. "J 


*  The  Destiny  of  Man,  pp.  100-103. 

f  Lester  F.  Ward:   Applied  Sociology,  p.  264. 

JBloomfield:   "Farmer's  Boy." 


184  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

"Cursed  is  the  man,  and  void  of  law  and  right; 

Unworthy  property,  unworthy  light. 

Unfit  for  public  rule,  or  private  care, — 

That  wretch,  that  monster,  who  delights  in  war."* 

Imagine  a  Sioux  Indian  chief,  pagan  Alexander,  pagan 
Caesar,  Christian  Napoleon,  also  the  Christian  bullies  Em- 
peror William  and  Theodore  Roosevelt,  also  the  quiet  Christ — 
imagine  these  seven  "not  only  willing,  but  anxious  to  fight," 
mounted  on  foam-stained  horses  galloping  across  a  bloody 
battlefield  strewn  with  wounded  and  slaughtered  men  and 
boys,  imagine  these  seven  galloping,  bravely  and  boisterously 
galloping,  waving  red-stained  swords,  yelling,  squawking, 
yawping,  hurrahing  for  war,  "glorious"  war — the  iron-shod 
hoofs  of  their  rushing  horses  crushing  into  the  breasts  and 
faces  of  dead  and  dying  young  men  and  boys. 

The  savage  Sioux,  the  immortal  pagan  brutes  Alexander 
and  Caesar,  the  renowned  Christian  bullies  Napoleon,  William 
and  Theodore — these  six  "geniuses,"  these  coarse-grained, 
blood-stained  egotists  fit  that  picture  perfectly,  as  a  shark 
fits  the  ocean,  as  a  wolf  fits  the  forest,  as  a  tiger  fits  the  jungle, 
as  a  savage  fits  a  cannibal  feast, — as  the  Devil  fits  Hell. 

But  Christ,  Christ  in  whose  breast  lurked  no  tiger  and 
no  savage, — Christ  with  a  long  sword,  a  hero's  butcher-knife 
in  hand,  plunging  it  into  the  breast  of  his  brothers,  screaming 
like  the  "dee-lighted"  brute,  calling  it  "great,"  "splendid," 
"bully  !"— 

Impossible ! 

But  why  impossible  for  Christ  and  "dee-lightful"  for  the 
other  six? 

Because,  simply  because,  these  six  blood-lusting  heroes  are 
savage  or  at  best  only  civilized;  but  Christ  was  socialized. 

Socialization  opposes  assassination — ^both  wholesale  and 
retail. 

Christ  is  immortal — by  his  wide  love  and  brotherhood. 

The  "great  general"  is  promoted  and  immortalized  for 
his  narrow  hates  and  brilliant  brutalities. 

(19)   Has  not  war  been  natural  and  necessary  in  the 

*  Pope's  Homer's  "Iliad." 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  185 

life  of  the  human  race,  and  has  not  war  been  a  potent  factor 
in  the  intellectual  development  of  mankind? 
Professor  Ferrero  has  this  to  say  :* 

"Thus  the  duty  of  every  well-meaning  man  to-day  is  to  diffuse 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  war  no  longer  serves  the  purpose  it  once 
served  in  the  struggle  for  civilization. 

"War  necessary  to  civilization?" 

Well,  for  a  long  time  in  the  life  of  the  human  race  nature 
was  so  ill  understood,  man  had  such  insufficient  knowledge 
and  control  of  nature,  that  it  was  extremely  difficult  to  get  a 
living  for  all.  Our  ancestors  naturally  quarreled;  perhaps 
it  was  necessary  for  some  of  them  to  kill  others  in  order  that 
some  of  them  might  live — ignorant  as  the  people  were  in 
those  times  of  how  to  make  nature  yield  bountifully  and 
easily  for  all.  And  no  doubt  the  struggle  developed  the 
race — the  part  that  did  not  get  killed.  In  those  struggles 
were  developed,  at  first,  strong  muscles,  skin-ripping  claws 
or  knife-like  finger-nails,  tusks  in  the  mouth,  and  thick  skins ; 
and,  later,  clubs,  spears,  cross-bows,  bows-and-arrows ;  and 
still  later,  rifles,  cannon,  battleships  and  lignite  shells,  and 
also  the  methods  and  tactics  of  struggle; — all  these  were 
developed.  Always,  too,  cunning,  deception,  malignance, 
egoism,  egotism,  coarse-grained  dispositions,  cheap  ambitions, 
swaggering  manners,  fierce  eyes,  and  the  soft,  bull-like  mili- 
tary voices  and  hero  worship — all  these  were  developed. 

The  muscles  and  the  mentality  thus  developed  are  still 
extremely  useful.  Indeed,  the  mentality,  developed  in  war 
(but  neither  wholly  nor  chiefly  in  war),  is  worth  all  it  cost, 
whatever  it  did  cost,  because  with  this  godlike  mentality,  and 
only  with  this  mentality,  we  can  now  have  the  higher  and  finer 
forms  and  phases  of  life,  the  pleasures  that  distinguish  man 
from  the  brutes;  that  is,  with  this  mentality  we  can  have 
these  more  glorious  forms  of  life:  Provided,  that  the  low 
cunning,  deception,  malignance,  egoism,  egotism  and  the 
coarse-grained  strain  of  the  ancient  brute  are  not  even  yet 
too  strong  in  our  veins  and  characters.    In  spite  of  one's  in- 


Militarism,  p.  316. 


186  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

telligence  he  may  be  "not  only  willing,  but  anxious  to  fight." 
Such  a  person  may  no  longer  have  the  skin-ripping  finger- 
claws,  but  he  has  the  skin-ripping  disposition  that  was  de- 
veloped when  the  skin-ripping  finger-claws  were  developed, 
and  developed  in  the  same  way. 

Now,  of  course,  we  still  need  the  muscle  and  the  intel- 
ligence, every  one  of  us.  But  we  do  not  any  longer  need  the 
skin-rippers,  or  the  tusks,  or  the  club,  the  "big  stick,"  the 
spear,  the  bow  and  arrow,  the  rifle  and  the  battleship ;  nor  do 
we  any  longer  need  the  arrogant  egotism,  the  cheap  cunning, 
the  prize-fighter  ambitions  or  the  tiger's  readiness  to  take 
blood.  Nor  should  we  any  longer  need  the  ancient  method 
of  struggle,  every-fellow-for-himself,  in  the  industrial  process 
of  life — in  a  rationally  organized  society,  with  our  present 
control  of  nature.  And  we  should  no  longer  enjoy  any  of 
these  brute  means  and  methods  if  we  were  civilized  in  the 
noblest  sense,  that  is,  if  we  were  decently  socialized. 

"Are  you  ready  for  the  question  ?"  This  is  the  question : 
Can  you  use,  do  you  prefer  to  use — your  developed  men- 
tality like  a  brute,  like  a  savage,  or  like  a  truth-seeking,  so- 
cialized man?  Are  you  "not  only  willing,  but  anxious  to 
fight,"  or  are  the  business  and  the  methods  of  the  brute  dis- 
gusting to  you?  What  o'clock  is  it  in  your  personal  evolu- 
tion? Do  you  prefer  a  library  to  an  armory,  books  rather 
than  bayonets?  Is  a  fight  natural,  or  necessary,  or  helpful 
in  your  personal  development?  If  a  fight,  actual  part  in  a 
fight  rifle-in-hand,  is  not  necessary  to  the  preacher,  the  sena- 
tor, the  professor,  the  banker  or  the  manufacturer,  why  should 
it  seem  necessary  in  your  case — and  why  should  you  permit 
these  "better  class"  citizens  to  have  you  ordered  and  led 
around  like  a  prize-winning  bull-dog  to  flght  in  the  interna- 
tional prize-ring  called  the  struggle  for  the  world  market? 
War  as  a  developer  and  a  civilizer  is  a  flat  failure  in  your 
case  if  the  capitalist  class  can  seduce  you  for  fifty  cents  a 
day  to  fight  for  a  foreign  market  for  American  porterhouse 
steak  while  you  and  your  father  and  mother  are  fed  on 
third-rate  meat,  beans,  cheap  syrup  and  mock-coffee  without 
cream.     Brother,  you  may  indeed  be  a  "brave  boy,"  and  a 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  187 

"good  shot,"  and  you  may  have  heroically  stained  your  hands 
in  other  men's  blood;  but,  really,  the  "upper  class"  have 
marked  you  as  an  easy  victim,  a  useable  cheap  "guy"  of  the 
"lower  class." 

(20)  John  Ruskin  keenly  appreciated  the  capitalist's 
craftiness  and  the  workingman's  buffoonery  in  "a  war  for 
civilization."     He  wrote:* 

"Capitalists,  when  they  do  not  know  what  to  do  with  their 
money,  persuade  the  peasants  that  the  said  peasants  want  guns  to 
shoot  each  other  with.  The  peasants  accordingly  borrow  guns,  out  of 
the  manufacture  of  which  the  capitalists  get  a  percentage,  and  men 
of  science  much  amusement  and  credit.  Then  the  peasants  shoot 
a  certain  number  of  each  other  until  they  get  tired,  and  burn  each 
other's  houses  down  in  various  places.  Then  they  put  the  guns  back 
into  towns,  arsenals,  etc.,  in  ornamental  patterns,  and  the  victori- 
ous party  put  also  some  ragged  flags  in  churches.  And  then  the 
capitalists  tax  both  annually,  ever  afterwards,  to  pay  interest  on 
the  loan  of  the  guns  and  powder." 

The  Italian  historian  Ferrero  sees  the  swinish  snout  of 
the  ruling  class  greed  in  the  wars  of  three  thousand  years  of 
"civilization."     He  writes:! 

"During  those  thirty  centuries  from  which  dates  our  historical 
knowledge,  war  has  been  more  a  social  system  than  a  cruel  pastime 
for  kings — the  first  most  violent  and  brutal  means  adopted  by  ruling 
minorities  to  acquire  wealth." 

(21)  Is  it  said  that  wars  always  have  been  and  always 
will  be? 

That  wars  always  have  been  is  an  unproved  proposition.^ 

That  "wars  always  will  be"  depends  upon  the  working 

class.     The  clouds  of  confusion  are  clearing  from  the  mind 

of  the  working  class.    A  revolution  is  ripening  in  the  toilers' 

thought  on  war,§ 

(22)  Is  it  said  by  the  leading  citizens  that  wars  are 
necessary  in  order  to  kill  off  the  surplus  population? 


*  Quoted  by  John  A.   Hobson:   John  Ruskin:   Social  Reformer, 
p.  346. 

■f  Militarism,  p.  317. 

t  See  Chapter  Eleven. 

§  See  Chapter  Ten,  also  Index :  "Revolution  of  Opinion." 


188  WAE—WHAT  FOR? 

If  wars  are  necessary  for  siicli  purpose,  why  not  have  Mr. 
Leading  Citizen  and  his  friends  classified  as  a  part  of  the 
surplus  population  on  the  ground  that  they  are  criminally 
unsocial,  and  have  them  taken  out  to  the  battlefield  and 
forced  to  shoot  one  another?  The  theory  of  having  the  sur- 
plus population  killed  off  would  thus  quickly  lose  its  popu- 
larity with  the  "upper  classes." 

(23)  It  may  be  said  that  the  Napoleonic  wars  removed 
more  than  7,500,000  men  from  competition  in  the  labor 
market;*  and  it  might  be  argued  by  the  working  man  that 
since  war  reduces  the  competition  among  the  workers,  the 
working  class  should  on  this  account  welcome  war. 

Let  us  see:  If  four  men  are  competing  for  two  jobs, 
should  two  of  them  be  satisfied,  and  even  glad,  to  have  the 
competition  for  the  jobs  reduced  by  having  the  other  two 
climb  upon  their  backs  and  cease  to  bid  for  the  jobs?  It 
should  be  kept  distinctly  in  mind  that  the  workers  who  do 
not  go  to  war  support  those  who  do  go  to  war — always,  every- 
where, absolutely  no  exceptions. 

(24)  There  is  a  somewhat  popular,  and  simian,  assump- 
tion that  in  war — even  in  beautiful  Christian  war — ^the  re- 
sults are  "the  survival  of  the  fittest,"  meaning,  in  the  case  of 
modern  wars,  the  survival  of  "the  more  highly  civilized,"  also 
the  biologically  "best." 

Of  course  a  bullet  carefully  selects  its  victim." 

And  do  not  statesmen  tell  us  on  the  Fourth  of  July  aU 
about  the  "splendid  intelligence"  and  the  "noble  spirit^'  and 
the  "superiority"  of  the  "brave  boys  who  died  in  battle"? 

Does  not  the  recruiting  officer  try  to  get  the  soundest  men 
for  slaughter? 

Let  the  orthodox  worshippers  answer:  Is  pagan  Japan 
more  fit  for  survival  than  Christian  Kussia  ? 

What  show  for  survival  would  Belgium  have  in  a  contest 
with  Turkey,  Spain  or  Russia  ?t 


•See  McCabe  and  Darien:    Can  We  Disarm*  p.  56. 

fSee  Index:  "What  War  Decides";   also  "Blood  Cost  of  War." 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  189 

(25)  A  kindred  and  stupid  assumption  in  all  wars  is 
this :  Might  makes  right. 

But  if  might  makes  right  between  two  warring  nations, 
then  why  does  not  might  make  right  when  a  strong  man  by 
force  compels  a  weaker  man  to  hand  over  his  pocket-book? 

(26)  A  Scotch  philosopher  on  the  "brave  boys":* 

"Omitting  much,  let  us  impart  what  follows:  Horrible  enough! 
A  whole  marchfield  strewed  with  shell-eplinters,  cannon-shots,  ruined 
tumbrils  and  dead  men  and  horses;  stragglers  remaining  not  so 
much  as  buried.  And  those  red  mound-heaps:  aye,  there  lie  the 
Shells  of  Men,  out  of  which  the  life  and  virtue  have  been  blown; 
and  now  they  are  swept  together  and  crammed  down  out  of  sight, 
like  blown  Eggshells!  .  .  .  How  has  thy  breast,  fair  plain,  been 
defaced  and  defiled!  The  green  sward  is  torn  up,  hedge-rows  and 
pleasant  dwellings  blown  away  with  gunpowder,  and  the  kind  seed- 
field  lies  a  desolate  Place  of  Skulls.  Nevertheless,  Nature  is  at 
work  ...  all  that  gore  and  carnage  will  be  shrouded  in,  absorbed 
into  manure.  .  .  . 

"What,  speaking  in  quite  unofficial  language,  is  the  net  purport 
and  upshot  of  the  war?  To  my  own  knowledge,  for  example,  there 
dwell  and  toil,  in  the  British  village  of  Dumrudge,  usually  some 
five  hundred  souls.  From  these,  by  certain  'natural  enemies'  of  the 
French,  there  are  successively  selected,  during  the  French  war,  say 
thirty  able-bodied  men:  Dumrudge,  at  her  own  expense,  has  suckled 
and  nursed  them;  she  has,  not  without  difficulty  and  sorrow,  fed 
them  up  to  manhood,  and  even  trained  them  up  to  crafts,  so  that 
one  can  weave,  another  build,  another  hammer,  and  the  weakest 
can  stand  under  thirty  stone  avoirdupois.  Nevertheless,  amid  much 
weeping  and  swearing,  they  are  selected;  all  dressed  in  red  and 
shipped  away,  at  the  public  charges,  some  two  thousand  miles,  or 
say  only  to  the  south  of  Spain,  and  fed  there  till  wanted.  And 
now  to  that  same  spot  in  the  south  of  Spain,  are  thirty  similar 
French  artisans — in  like  manner  wending  their  ways;  till  at  length, 
after  infinite  efi'ort,  the  two  parties  come  into  actual  juxtaposition, 
and  thirty  stand  facing  thirty,  each  with  his  gun  in  hand.  Straight- 
way the  word  'Fire!'  is  given,  and  they  blow  the  souls  out  of  one 
another;  and  in  the  place  of  sixty  brisk,  useful  craftsmen,  the 
world  has  sixty  dead  carcasses,  which  it  must  bury,  and  anew  shed 
tears  for. 

"Had  these  men  any  quarrel?  Busy  as  the  Devil  is,  not  the 
smallest!     They  lived  far  enough  apart;  were  the  entirest  strangers; 


*  Thomas  Carlyle :   Sartor  Resartus,  Book  II.,  Chapter  8. 


190  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

nay,  in  so  wide  a  universe,  there  was  even,  unconsciously,  by  com- 
merce, some  mutual  helpfulness  between  them. 

"How  then? 

"Simpleton!  Their  governors  had  fallen  out;  and  instead  of 
shooting  one  another,  had  these  poor  blockheads  shoot." 

(27)  In  that  part  of  biology  treating  o-f  parasitic  life 
the  technical  terms  "Tiost'^  and  "guest"  are  used.  The  host 
is  the  living  thing  that  furnishes  a  living  not  only  for  itself, 
but  also  for  the  life-filching  intruder  which  fastens  itself 
upon  the  body  of  the  "host."  The  intruder,  the  robber  resid- 
ing upon  the  body  of  the  'Tiost,"  is  the  "guest,"  that  is,  the 
parasite. 

Now  one  of  the  strangest  things  in  the  entire  live  world 
is  this:  When  in  some  life-forms  a  certain  stage  of  para- 
sitism is  reached,  when  the  guest  has  permanently  fastened 
itself  upon  the  body  of  the  host  and  the  host  has  become 
thoroughly  accustomed  to  and  adjusted  to  the  parasitic 
arrangement,  the  host  stupidly  inclines  to  defend  the  para- 
sitic guest.  It  is  remarkable  (and  discouraging)  that  this 
law  of  nature,  this  tendency,  is  found  in  operation  in  the 
social  life  of  man.  For  thousands  of  years  multitudes  of 
men,  women  and  children  have  been  held  in  the  grip  of  this 
law,  mentally  strangled  in  their  effort  to  think  Justice  and 
Freedom;  the  vast  majority  of  the  working  class  are  always 
quickly  and  easily  rendered  "peaceful,"  "law-abiding,"  and 
"satisfied,"  and  "patriotic."  Millions  of  chattel  slaves  have 
"loyally"  defended  their  parasitic  masters.  Millions  of  serfs 
have  "loyally"  defended  their  landlords-and-masters.  And 
to-day  tens  of  millions  of  wage-earners  strongly  incline  to 
"loyally"  defend  their  parasitic  employer  masters.  Moreover, 
the  employer,  by  craftily  praising  the  wage-earner,  can  induce 
the  wage-earner  to  ignorantly,  blindly,  stupidly  praise  and 
defend  not  only  the  employer,  but  also  the  whole  wage-system 
of  robbery  and  social  parasitism.  Not  only  that,  the  em- 
ployers, by  controlling  certain  institutions  such  as  the  school, 
the  library,  the  press,  and  the  lecture  platform,  can  have  the 
wage-earning  hosts  taught  to  teach  their  own  children  to  de- 
fend and  praise  the  parasitic  employer  guests  and  the  para- 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  191 

sitic  social  system  under  which  their  lives  are  belittled  by 
being  sucked  up  as  rent,  interest  and  profits  and  fed  to  the 
parasitic  capitalist  class. 

What  the  employer  calls  a  contented  and  loyal  working 
man  is  simply  a  stupidly  acquiescent  "host,"  biologically  con- 
sidered. And  a  working  class  man  with  a  rifle  in  his  hand 
defending  the  class  that,  as  social  parasites,  rob  the  working 
class — such  a  workingman  is  the  best  possible  illustration  of 
the  fact  that  the  great  laws  of  nature  are  careless  of  the 
so-called  "dignity  of  man,"  totally  careless  of  the  ridiculous 
spectacle  of  a  human  being  reverting  to  the  behavior  of 
creatures  far,  far  down  below  even  the  simian  cousins  of  the 
human  race.  Nature  does  not  care  whether  a  man  behaves 
like  a  crab  or  a  sucker,  a  tiger  or  a  monkey,  a  sycophantic 
slave  or  a  defiantly  self-respecting  man.* 

(28)  Toward  the  prideless  working  class  as  a  social 
*Tiost"  defending  the  ruling  class,  the  defended  ruling  class 
take  nature's  contemptuous  attitude.  And  the  working-class 
soldier  as  professional  defender  of  the  parasitic  capitalist 
class,  tho'  much  flattered,  is  cordially  despised. 

What  the  United  States  government  thinks  of  the  soldier 
may  be  seen,  for  example,  in  the  fact  that  a  Civil  Service  em- 
ployee, in  the  Weather  Department,  travelling  about  on  duty 
on  long  trips,  is  allowed  one  dollar,  and  even  more  than  a  dol- 
lar per  meal  in  his  expense  account ;  while  the  "brave  boys"  in 
khaki  who  agree  to  stand  ready  to  butcher  their  brothers  for 
a  living  are  lucky  if  they  get  a  thirty-cent  meal  at  any  time. 
In  this  connection  the  following  from  Mr.  Taft's  Eeport  as 
Secretary  of  War  for  1907  (p.  93-93)  is  of  interest.  Under 
the  head  of  "Rations"  we  find: 

"The  present  ration,  while  liberal  and  suitahle,  falls  consider- 
ably short  of  the  Navy  ration  in  variety.  Butter,  milk  and  mo- 
lasses, or  syrup,  at  least,  should  be  added  to  the  garrison  ration. 
These  are  articles  almost  necessary  in  the  preparation  of  desserts. 
.  .  .  They  are  part  of  the  ration  in  Alaska  and  they  should  be 
everywhere.  "I 


*  See  Index:    "Parasites." 
f  Italics  mine.      G.   R.   K. 


192  WAR— WHAT  FOE? 

The  present  ration  "liberal  and  suitable,"  yet  lacking  but- 
ter, milk  and  molasses  and  even  syrup.  Such  things  are 
"almost  necessary !" 

The  reckless  epicureanism  thus  proposed  by  "the  great 
secretary"  in  offering  some  cheap  syrup  as  an  addition  to  the 
dessert  gives  us  an  illuminating  suggestion  as  to  the  War 
Department's  estimate  of  the  cheapness  of  the  hungry  green- 
horn who  can  be  lured  into  the  rulers'  "service"  with  cheap 
syrup.  An  ordinary  house  fly  can  be  coaxed  into  a  trap  with 
syrup — good  syrup. 

The  United  States  soldier's  meals  are  estimated  by  the 
War  Department  to  be  worth  six  and  two-thirds  cents  apiece, 
as  will  appear  from  the  following  passage  taken  from  the 
Eeport  of  the  War  Department  for  1907,  page  85 :  "The  pay 
of  the  private,  at  present,  is  43  and  one-third  cents  a  day. 
Adding  the  [daily]  cost  of  his  ration  as  20  cents,  clothing 
allowance  and  right  to  quarters  each  at  15  cents,  and  his  re- 
maining privileges  at,  say,  six  and  two-thirds  cents,  his  pres- 
ent pay  still  falls  25  cents  short  of  the  average  laborer 
throughout  the  United  States."  This  is  the  War  Depart- 
ment's estimate  of  the  soldier's  average  total  daily  income  in 
cash  and  allowances,  made  by  the  Department  in  order  to 
compare  the  soldier's  incentive  with  that  of  the  farm  hand 
and  general  day  laborer.  On  page  84  of  the  same  Eeport  is 
the  Government's  estimate  of  the  average  daily  income  of  the 
"farm  and  the  general  laborer":  For  1902  the  average  for 
these  two  classes  was  (according  to  the  Eeport)  $1.20  a  day; 
and  "allowing  for  the  increase  in  wages  since  1902"  the  gov- 
ernment's estimate  for  the  "farm  and  general  laborer"  in 
1907  was  $1.25  per  day.  This,  the  Eeport  says,  is  $7.50  per 
month  better  than  the  soldier's  incentive  in  1907. 

It  is  matter  of  common  knowledge  that  the  United  States 
soldiers  and  marines  are  forced  to  spend  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  their  cash  incomes  for  food  that  the  Government  is 
too  stingy  to  furnish.  That  is,  the  ruling  class  have  such 
contempt  for  their  human  "watch  dogs"  that  they  furnish 
them  a  meaner  living  than  is  received  by  the  most  meanly 
paid  group  of  the  working  class  over  whom  they  stand  guard 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  193 

and  stand  ready  to  murder  if  they  strike  and  struggle  for 
more. 

In  the  same  Report,  under  the  heading  "Quarters,"  is 
this: 

"The  fact  that  he  is  living  in  a  $40,000  building  impresses  the 
soldier  less  if  he  finds  in  it  only  iron  bunks,  cheap  chairs,  and  un- 
painted  tables — the  absolute  necessities  for  his  use  and  nothing  for 
his  comfort.  The  barrack  is  the  home  of  the  soldier  while  he  re- 
mains in  the  service.  It  is  possible  that  he  might  think  oftener 
of  continuing  there  if  it  presented  more  the  appearance  of  a  home. 
So  far  as  the  squad  rooms  are  concerned,  mere  room  adornment  is 
neither  necessary  nor  advisable  [!].  .  .  .  The  squad  rooms  are  sleep- 
ing rooms  only.  There  is  space  only  for  bunks,  lockers  and  a  few 
chairs;  but  these  last  might  in  part  be  something  more  than  the 
present  cheap  and  uncomfortable  article.  But  it  is  the  reading  and 
amusement  rooms  that  are  meant  particularly.  There  is  no  reason 
why  they  should  not  be  made  habitable.  [Indeed!  Really,  Mr. 
Taft!  How  daring  of  you!]  A  few  barrack  chairs  and  rough 
tables,  with  possibly  a  billiard  table,  ordinarily  constitute  their 
furniture  now.  There  is  little  to  tempt  a  man  to  stay  there. 
["Tempt"  is  good.]  .  .  .  These  rooms  might  be  made  comfortable 
and  pleasant.  A  rug  on  the  floor,  a  few  prints  on  the  walls,  sub- 
stantial chairs,  a  few  writing  tables  and  writing  materials  could 
all  be  supplied  at  no  serious  expense  to  the  United  States.  .  .  . 
There  is  nothing  degenerating  in  such  furnishings;  there  is  much 
that  is  homelike."     [Like  ivhose  home?] 

"A  few  prints" — not  many  of  course,  and  cheap  ones,  let 
us  say  about  ten  cents  each ;  and  "a  rug" — a  dull,  unexciting 
mat  of  rags — simply  these  and  nothing  more,  lest  the  degen- 
erating influences  of  fine  art  should  soften  the  syrup-baited 
lads'  blood-lusting  temper  too  much  for  the  more  glorious 
art  of  butchering.  As  Mr.  Taft  profoundly  remarks,  "There 
is  little  to  tempt  a  man  to  stay  there"  at  present;  but,  as  he 
sagaciously  suggests,  about  98  cents  expended  in  baiting  the 
bunk-room  trap  with  a  few  original  Italian,  or,  say,  Dutch, 
masterpieces,  and  a  few  imported  Persian  fascinations  of  emo- 
tional red — this  98  cents  for  the  seductions  of  fine  art  added  to 
a  nickel's  worth  of  skimmed  milk  and  molasses  would  be  an 
effective  allurement  for  the  khaki  heroes  to  re-enlist  and  "stay 
there." 

Recently  Congressmen  and  Senators  advanced  their  own 


194  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

salaries  from  $5,000  up  to  $7,500  per  year.  This  is  one  sign 
of  self-respect.  This  advance  of  $2,500  per  year  will  of  course 
be  sufficient  to  provide  a  fair  quality  of  syrup  and  skimmed 
milk  for  the  statesmen's  dessert. 

Does  it  seem  probable  that  cheap  molasses  added  to  the 
dessert  of  the  soldier's  ration  and  a  few  ten-cent  prints  hung 
on  the  walls  of  the  soldiers'  living  rooms  will  attract  Taft's 
sons  or  Koosevelt's  sons  or  the  sons  of  Senators  and  Con- 
gressmen and  the  sons  of  the  "better  class  leading  citizens" 
to  the  dreary,  barren  barracks  provided  for  men  who  stand 
ready  to  slaughter  for  less  than  50  cents  a  day  and  cheap 
"keep"  ? 

Says  Major-General  J.  F.  Bell,  Chief  of  Staff:* 

"That  men  enlist  believing  they  will  love  the  life  is  likely, 
but  their  mental  picture  is  oftentimes  so  different  from  the  reality 
that  disappointment  is  the  almost  inevitable  consequence." 

Fifty-eight  per  cent,  of  all  the  desertions  from  the  military 
service  in  the  year  1906  were  desertions  of  men  in  their  first 
year  of  service,  and  considerably  more  than  half  of  these 
desertions  were  during  the  first  six  months  of  service.f 

Twenty-six  times  as  many  enlisted  men  in  our  army  com- 
mitted suicide  in  1908  as  in  1907,  and  thirty-nine  times  as 
many  of  the  "tempted"  and  trapped  young  men  in  our  army 
committed  suicide  in  1909  as  in  1907.  No  suicides  are  re- 
ported for  the  years  1901  to  1906  inclusive.  The  record  for 
the  three  years  1907,  '08,  '09  is  1,  26,  39,  respectively.^ 

It  would  seem  likely  that  a  young  fellow  whose  loathing 
for  the  army  life  had  become  unendurable  would  desert  rather 
than  commit  suicide  to  escape  the  hideous  business.  But  no 
doubt  the  following  line  from  the  Eeport  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  Mr.  Wright,  in  1908,  will  help  explain  somewhat  the 
increase  of  suicide  in  the  army.  Mr.  Wright  says  (page  19)  : 
"An  elaborate  system  .  .  .  now  almost  perfected  is  well 
calculated  to  secure  swift  and  certain  apprehension  and  pun~ 

*  Report,  1907,  p.  73. 

■j-  See  Report  of  Department  of  War,   1906. 

t  See  Annual  Eeports  of  the  Secretaries  of  War  for  the  years 
named;   also  Preface  of  the  present  volume. 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  195 

ishment  of  deserters  and  will  .  .  .  have  a  marked  effect  in 
reducing  the  crime  to  a  minimum."*  An  illustrative  feature 
of  this  "highly  perfected  system"  is  to  furnish  the  run-away 
soldiers'  pictures  to  the  police  of  a  city  to  which  the  lads  can 
be  traced,  and  offer  the  police  $50  a  head  cash  for  the  arrest 
of  the  soldiers.  The  $50  results  in  a  human  "blood-hound" 
search.  This  "highly  perfected  system"  makes  a  young  man's 
enlistment  a  good  deal  like  swallowing  a  barbed  fish-hook.  A 
great  number  of  the  boys  go  insane.  In  1908  insanity  ranked 
third  in  the  long  list  of  causes  of  discharge  from  the  army  for 
disability.! 

Army  service,  even  in  time  of  peace,  is  not  exactly  a 
picnic  dream.  On  this  point  General  Frederick  Funston 
offers  some  helpful   information,  thus:$ 

"There  is  too  much  of  the  everlasting  grind  of  drill  and  prac- 
tice marches,  and  at  some  of  the  posts  too  much  'fatigue'  in  the 
way  of  keeping  the  reservations  in  apple-pie  order.  It  is  pretty 
much  of  a  shock  to  many  of  the  men  who  have  entered  the  army 
service  to  taste  the  delights  of  military  life  to  find  that,  from  the 
stand-point  of  the  post-commanders,  the  most  important  part  of 
their  training  consists  in  cutting  brush  and  weeds." 

In  his  Eeport  of  1907,  page  14,  Mr.  Taft  said : 

"A  noteworthy  feature  in  the  recruitment  of  the  Army  under 
present  conditions  is  the  increasing  number  of  men  who  fail  to  re- 
enlist  and  of  those  who  leave  the  Army  before  the  expiration  of 
their  term  of  service  by  purchasing  their  discharge.  .  .  .  The  fact 
cannot  be  disregarded  nor  explained  away  that  for  some  reason  or 
other  the  life  of  the  soldier  as  at  present  constituted  is  not  one 
to  attract  the  best  and  most  desirable  class  of  men." 

In  the  excerpt  Just  quoted  Mr.  Taft  makes  it  pretty  clear 
that  in  his  judgment  the  present  enlisted  men  in  the  "regu- 
lar" army  are  "undesirable  citizens."  Hence  the  "great  sec- 
retary's" recommendation  of  milk-and-syrup  additions  to  the 
soldier's  dessert,  a  few  cheap  prints  on  the  walls,  and  a  coat  of 
paint  on  the  tables  used  by  the  soldiers — in  order  to  catch  a 

*  Italics  mine.  G.  R.  K. 

t  See  Report  of  the  War  Department,  1908,  p.  21;  see  also 
Index:  "Insanity." 

%The  World's  Work,  May,  1907. 


196  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

better  and  more  desirable  class  of  men;  that  is,  a  better  and 
more  desirable  class  of  workingmen;  for  be  it  remembered 
the  Government  does  not  expect  to  get  any  well-fed  capitalist 
class  men  into  the  army  by  means  of  cheap  syrup  and  cheap 
milk  and  cheap  'print'  pictures  and  the  like."  "The  soldier 
in  peace,"  says  the  Eeport  just  quoted,  "is  better  fed  and  bet- 
ter clothed  than  the  average  man  of  his  class  in  civil  life."* 
How  interesting  and  instructive! 

In  1905  almost  73  per  cent.,  and  in  1906  almost  74  per 
cent,  of  the  applicants  for  examination  for  enlistment  in  our 
army  "were  rejected  as  lacking  either  mental,  moral  or  phys- 
ical qualifications."! 

President  Roosevelt,  in  his  Message  of  December,  1907, 
virtually  ridiculed  the  patriotism  of  the  men  in  the  army 
and  those  who  may  contemplate  entering  the  army.  He 
wrote : 

"The  prime  need  of  our  present  Army  and  Navy  is  to  secure 
and  retain  competent  non-commissioned  officers.  The  difficulty 
rests  fundamentally  on   the  question  of  pay." 

"Fundamentally  on  the  question  of  pay."  How  suggest- 
ively patriotic !  Did  Colonel  Eoosevelt  join  the  army  for 
the  cash  there  was  in  it?  "Oh,  certainly  not."  But  why 
should  he  insultingly  say  that,  for  other  men,  joining  the 
army  is  fundamentally  a  question  of  cold  cash? 

The  War  Department,  with  Mr.  Taft  at  the  head,  in  1907, 
joined  Mr.  Eoosevelt  in  his  sneering  contempt  for  the  soldier's 
motive  in  joining  the  army.     The  Eeport  runs4 

"Under  a  voluntary  system  men  enlist  either  to  aid  their  coun- 
try or  to  promote  their  own  ends;  that  is,  through  self-sacrifice 
or  self-interest.  .  .  .  Self-sacrifice  of  this  sort  is  patriotism,  an 
emotion  necessary  to  arouse.  ...  To  keep  it  through  long  periods 
of  peace  at  a  pitch  high  enough  to  maintain  an  army  would  be 
impossible.  .  .  .  Self-interest  is,  therefore,  the  only  cause  of  enlist- 
ment necessary  to  consider;  .  .  ."* 

It  thus  appears  that,  in  the  judgment  of  the  "great  secre- 

•  Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 

fSee  Reports  of  the  Department  of  War  for  the  respective 
years. 

t  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1907,  p.  72. 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  197 

tary,"  now  President,  patriotism  is  not  at  all  a  matter  of 
brains,  of  reason  steadily  sustained  by  logic,  but  is,  on  the 
contrary,  a  matter  of  emotion,  passion,  "brainstorm,"  induced 
with  fife  and  drum  and  sustained  with  godlike  sky-climbing 
aspiration  to  have  one's  stomach  filled  with  "butter,  milk  and 
molasses,  or  syrup,  at  least" — as  "dessert."  The  two  Presi- 
dents, the  anti-labor  injunction  judge  and  the  lion-hunting 
monkey  murderer,*  agree  that  what  looks  like  patriotism  in 
the  long-service  "regular"  is  after  all  simply  a  matter  of 
getting  less  than  fifty  cents  a  day  and  "keep."  Of  course,  such 
things  as  this  are  not  mentioned  on  the  Fourth  of  July  nor 
in  campaign  speeches  when  the  "great  secretary"  or  his  chat- 
tering predecessor  is  courting  the  'brave  boys'  for  their  votes. 

(29)  When  a  young  man  joins  the  army  or  the  navy 
he  virtually  agrees  to  pocket  his  pride  and  submit  to  a  series 
of  insults  from  his  "superior"  officers  for  a  term  of  years. 
The  recruiting  officer  is  to  some  degree,  at  least  temporarily, 
a  man  of  pleasant  manners,  and  the  callow  patriot  taking  the 
bait  in  the  recruiting  office  is  treated  alluringly.  But  when 
the  youth  signs  his  name  in  the  books  and  becomes  a  soldier 
patriot,  matters  take  a  change.  It  is  a  case  of  being  "stuck" 
or  "stung."  For  following  the  hour  of  his  enlistment,  hum- 
ble, prideless  submission  to  strutting,  swaggering  bosses  is  the 
soldier's  portion.  From  "superior"  officers  he  must  meekly 
accept  insults  for  which,  in  private  life,  he  would  promptly 
knock  a  man  down.  In  the  service  he  must  bend  his  neck 
and  take  the  yoke  for  years.  Here  is  a  sample  of  the  spirit  of 
the  haughty  airs  assumed  by  the  "superiors." 

Mr.  Taft,  speaking  as  Secretary  of  War,  February  14, 
1908,  to  the  young  men  at  West  Point  Military  School,  said : 

"The  plainest  of  your  duties  is  to  keep  your  mouths  shut  and 
obey  orders.     As   a   soldier  you  must  forego  the  privilege  of  free 


*  Mr.  Roosevelt's  kill-for-pleasure  hunting  trip  in  Africa  in 
1909-10  included,  according  to  the  press  reports,  "a  splendid  time," 
"a  corking  time,"  shooting  monkies — murdering  his  ancestral 
cousins,  so  to  speak — "a  careful  count  being  kept  of  the  exact  num- 
ber" of  the  jolly,  playful  little  creatures  butchered  for  the  brave 
and  noble  gentleman's  amusement  on  his  "old  home"  trip. 


198  WAE—WHAT  FOR? 

speech.  .  .  .  You  will  meet  with  injustices,  others  will  get  all  to 
which  they  seem  entitled.  Your  wives  will  have  heart-burnings. 
Your  children  will  have  heart-burnings.  In  spite  of  all  that  you 
must  do  your  duty,  honestly  and  devotedly."  « 

Here  is  a  soldier's  letter  :* 

".  .  .  We  are  supposed  to  work  eight  hours  a  day,  but  we  get 
dismissed  when  the  oflBcers  see  fit  to  let  us  go — all  for  fifty-two 
cents  a  day.  The  negroes  working  at  Panama  get  more  money  and 
are  better  treated  than  the  enlisted  men  out  here.  Our  'little  brown 
brothers'  are  treated  better  over  here.  And  to  cap  the  climax, 
over  comes  a  high  statesman  [Mr.  Taft?]  and  makes  a  speech  to  a 
mob  of  our  'little  brown  brothers'  and  tells  them  not  to  judge 
the  Americans  by  the  enlisted  men,  as  the  enlisted  men  are  com- 
posed of  the  roughest  elements  in  the  States.  .  .  ," 

President  David  Starr  Jordan  (Leland  Stanford  Uni- 
versity) writes  of  the  contemptuous  treatment  of  the  men  in 
the  ranks  by  the  "superior"  officers  :t 

"One  soldier  [in  the  Philippines]  says,  'If  the  United  States 
were  on  fire  from  end  to  end,  I  would  never  raise  my  hand  to  put 
it  out.'  Another  would  'toss  in  a  blanket  the  officials  at  Wash- 
ington, as  we  toss  a  cheating  corporal.'  Another  says  in  print,  re- 
ferring to  the  abuse  of  the  soldiers  by  their  superiors  in  pay:  'Yes, 
I  knew  that  war  would  be  hell  before  I  got  into  it.  But  I  did 
not  know  that  war  would  be  hell  deliberately  and  fanatically  in-' 
flicted.  I  expected  to  sleep  in  mud  puddles  with  my  head  on  a 
stone  for  a  pillow,  and  go  hungry  for  days  on  forced  marches  and 
away  from  a  base  of  supplies.  But  I  never  dreamed  that  I  would 
have  to  sleep  in  a  leaky  and  exposed  shed  when  there  was  plenty 
of  good  shelter  elsewhere,  and  when  thirty  officers  had  fine  apart- 
ments in  which  there  was  room  for  five  hundred  men;  neither  did 
I  expect  to  be  fed  on  coff"ee-grounds  and  foul  canned  meat  for 
weeks  when  we  were  right  next  to  a  base  of  supplies,  and  when  our 
officers  lived  on  the  choice  of  the  commissary's  department.' " 

But  the  question  naturally  occurs  to  one:  Why  shouldn't 
the  working  class  soldiers  be  treated  thus  ?  Surely  it  is  to  be 
expected  that  the  great  majority  class  will  get  what  they 
permit  from  their  "superiors. 


7J 


*  A    private,    writing    from    the    Philippines,    in    Everybody's 
Magazine,  April,   1908. 

■\  Imperial  Democracy,  p.  272. 


* 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  199 

Note  how  the  soldier  boys  are  snubbed  and  bull-dozed  in 
the  German  army.    Says  Dr.  Walsh:* 

"In  a  trial  reported  Dec.  17,  1003,  a  lieutenant  of  the  infantry 
has  been  convicted  of  618  cases  of  maltreatment  and  57  cases  of 
improper  treatment  of  soldiers  under  him,  and  a  sergeant  in  another 
regiment  has  been  convicted  of  1,520  cases  of  maltreatment  and  100 
cases  of  improper  treatment.  .  .  .  The  men  deposed  were  so  afraid, 
that  nobody  ventured  to  complain." 

There  is  a  yearly  average  of  7,000  desertions  from  the 
English  regular  army.  Quite  naturally.  Frozen,  starved 
and  despised,  the  thirty-cent  patriots  make  a  break  for  bread 
and  freedom  from  the  "noble"  snohbery  of  the  aristocratic 
pets  in  control. 

The  record  of  desertions  from  the  American  Army  is,  for 
the  years  1907,  1908,  and  1909,  respectively,  4,534,  4,525, 
5,023. 

(30)  How  is  it  possible  to  interest  young  men  in  the 
brutal  business  of  war? 

There  are  some  paragraphs  on  this  matter  in  the  chapter 
following,  "For  Mother  and  the  Boys."  Here  the  matter  of 
military  parades  is  suggested  for  consideration  by  "father 
and  the  boys." 

Sometimes  the  boys'  interest  in  war  begins  in  so  simple 

a  thing  as  a  parade.     A  military  parade  is  a  trap — for  the 

working  class.    A  writer  in  the  New  York  Tribune,  April  22, 

1908,  makes  several  artful  suggestions  as  to  the  value  of 

military  parades  in  snaring  young  toilers  into  the  army.    He 

suggests : 

That  "parades,  so  far  as  circumstances  permit,  be  through  or 
near  .  .  .  sections  [of  the  city]  .  .  .  where  they  may  encourage  en- 
listment among  a  .  .  .  class  of  prospective  recruits  .  .  .  instead 
of  on  Riverside  Drive  [where  the  'better  classes'  live],  to  which 
the  public  has  access  with  difficulty  and  which  is  not  frequented 
by  the  class  of  young  men  to  whom  the  National  Guard  appeals. 
.  .  .  These  suggestions  reflect  the  views  of  many  citizens  .  .  .  with 
whom  the  writer  has  conferred." 

The  writer  also  points  out  that  bright-colored  uniforms 


The  Moral  Damage  of  War,  pp.  150-51 


200  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

for  the  paraders  have  excellent  effect  on  the  imagination  of 
the  prospective  recruits. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  masters  are  well  aware  of 
the  hypnotizing  influence  of  marching  loud,  gay-colored 
bands,  festively  uniformed  infantry,  and  fascinating  cavalry- 
men through  the  streets  where  they  may  be  seen  and  ad- 
mired by  the  working  class,  admired  by  many  thousands  of 
ill-fed,  ill-clothed,  meanly  sheltered  young  men  and  women 
whose  lives  are  dull  and  sad,  consumed  with  the  killing 
monotony  and  hurry  of  the  factory.  A  cavalry  captain  in 
the  United  States  Arm}^,  a  part  of  whose  business  is  to 
wheedle  the  gullibles  into  the  dreary  army  life,  has  this  to  say 
of  parades : 

"The  good  influence  in  popularizing  the  army  by  having  it 
stationed  in  large  cities  is  exemplified  in  London.  The  various 
guards  and  other  bodies  of  troops  marching  through  the  streets, 
preceded  by  their  gorgeously  dressed  bands,  all  the  uniforms  re- 
calling traditions  of  brave,  gallant  deeds,  gain  friends  every  time." 

The  best  known  butcher  of  modern  times  (Napoleon) 
also  understood  this  matter. 

"You  call  these  toys  ?  Well,  you  manage  men  with  toys !" 
said  that  red-stained  egoist,  speaking  of  the  ribbons  and 
crosses  and  other  gewgaws  of  his  Legion  of  Honor.* 

When  at  the  street-side  a  boy  of  seven,  watching  a  mili- 
tary parade,  shouts  in  gleeful  admiration  and  claps  his  small 
hands  in  happy  hurrahs.  Mars,  the  bloody  god  of  war,  begins 
to  fasten  his  clutches  on  the  little  fellow,  the  child's  imagina- 
tion takes  fire  with  visions  and  hopes,  his  soul  begins  to  thrill 
with  the  kill-lust,  then  and  there  he  is  being  prepared  to  enlist 
— when  he  "gets  big."  How  different  it  would  be  for  the 
small  boys  if,  when  soldiers  were  marched  through  a  city, 
these  armed  slayers  of  their  kind  should  march  at  night  with 
all  lights  out  and  with  the  rumble  of  drums  and  the  frequent 
boom  of  cannon  in  the  darkness  making  the  air  tremble.  The 
working  class  mother  might  well  consider  this  matter.  She 
has  all  to  lose.f 


*  Quoted  by  Professor  E.  A.  Ross,  in  his  Social  Control,  p.  89. 
fSee  Chapter  Eight:  "For  Mother  and  the  Boys,"  Section  1. 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  201 

In  the  average  parade-and-review  the  workingman  is  made 
ridiculous.  Did  you  ever  see  prominent  banliers  or  other 
"better  class"  business  men  in  large  numbers  trudging  along 
a-foot  in  the  middle  of  the  dusty  or  muddy  street,  marching 
and  sweating  miles  and  miles  past  a  gay-colored  reviewing- 
stand  to  be  "reviewed"  and  grinned  at  by  a  bunch  of  sugar- 
coated  crooks  in  the  "reviewers'  stand"  ?  No !  And  you 
never  will.  The  trudging  and  the  sweating,  as  usual,  are 
handed  over  to  the  "common  people,"  chiefly  the  wage-slaves. 
When  the  "very  best  people"  do  take  part  in  the  parading 
before  the  "grand-stand,"  they  ride,  up  front,  in  carriages  or 
on  horse-back.  They  laugh  and  chat  and  gaily  enjoy  the 
stupid  gullibility  of  the  working  men  as  the  humble  fellows 
are  thus  "bell-weathered"  through  the  dirt  and  heat.  On 
the  occasion  of  a  recent  great  parade  in  New  York  City  a 
well-known  capitalist  gliding  along  in  a  handsome  automo- 
bile SM^aggeringly  called  out,  "We've  got  the  ships,  we've  got 
the  men,  and  we've  got  the  money  too!"  A  seedy,  hungry- 
looking  young  man  proudly  answered  back,  "You  bet  we 
have !"  On  the  same  occasion  thousands  of  ten-dollar-a-week 
clerks  and  factory  workers  were  charmed  into  hand-clapping 
as  the  gaudily  dressed  soldiers  marched  by  carrying  the  very 
rifles  they  were  ready  to  use  to  crush  the  admiring  toilers  if 
they  should  strike  and  struggle  for  justice. 

The  usual  "review"  is  a  pompous  occasion  on  which  hun- 
dreds or  thousands  of  meek,  ill-fed,  cotton-lined,  callous- 
palmed  working  men  "hoof  it"  for  an  hour  or  so  past  a  "re- 
viewing-stand"  occupied  by  some  grinning,  well-fed,  silk- 
lined,  lily-fingered,  decorated  "great"  men  who  scorn  even  the 
thought  of  the  working  class  having  a  political  party  of  their 
own  for  their  own  self-defense. 

(31)  A  great  many  fathers  and  sons  are  thinking  a  good 
deal  about  an  "era  of  peace"  to  be  ushered  in  mainly  through 
the  good  offices  of  peace  societies.  The  Hague  Peace  Con- 
ference is,  in  the  judgment  of  many  people,  "the  hope  of  the 
world."* 


See  Index :  "Bankruptcy,  Danger  of." 


202  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

The  first  meeting  of  the  Hague  Conference  was  called — 
in  Jesus'  name,  of  course — by  the  most  infamous  blood- 
stained butcher  of  feeble  old  men  and  women  and  thoughtful, 
aspiring  young  men  and  women,  in  all  the  world, — that  is,  by 
the  Tsar  of  Kussia.  The  sincerity  of  this  crowned  murderer 
may  in  some  measure  be  realized  by  a  brief  study  of  his  gross 
inconsistency  in  the  year  1903  and  in  the  years  immediately 
preceding.     (See  Chapter  Six,  and  Sixth  Illustration.) 

The  second  meeting  of  the  Society  was  held  in  1907,  and 
another  is  scheduled  for  the  year  1915. 

The  serene  confidence  the  world's  rulers  have  in  the 
Society  is  easily  seen  in  their  frantic  efforts  to  increase  their 
armies  and  navies.  They  are  bleeding  their  people  white  with 
taxes  to  make  the  enormously  expensive  preparations  for  what 
is  likely  to  be  the  most  vast  and  terrible  butchering  of  the 
working  class  by  the  working  class  that  has  ever  horrified 
mankind.  Secretly  the  crowned  and  uncrowned  ruling 
butchers  of  the  world  have  nothing  but  contempt  for  the 
Conference  at  The  Hague.  Very  naturally,  however,  they  are 
all  shrewd  enough  to  make  a  large  and  beautiful  profession 
of  faith  and  desire  for  peace  through  the  Conference,  while 
at  the  same  time  they  all  "want  for  soldiers  young  men  who 
are  not  only  willing,  but  anxious  to  fight."  The  man  who 
inaugurated  the  Conference  promptly  scorned  the  Conference 
when  he  believed  his  interests  would  be  served  by  a  war 
with  Japan.  The  famous  French  anti-militarist  G.  Herve 
shrewdly  pointed  out  the  hopelessly  weak  place  in  the  "au- 
thority" of  the  capitalist  Hague  Peace  Court  :* 

"Governments  so  far  are  unanimous  in  withdrawing  from 
The  Hague  Trihmuil  all  questions  affecting  'the  honor  and 
vital  interests  of  the  coumtry'  a  convenient  formula  permit- 
ting them  to  refuse  arbitration  when  they  please." 

And  here  is  a  frank  admission: 

"The  Hague  Tribunal  has  nothing  compulsory  about  it;  all 
its  members  are  left  in  perfect  freedom  as  to  whether  they  submit 
questions   to   it   or   not.   ...    In   all   treaties   hitherto   the   Great 


The  International,  July,  1908.     Italics  mine.    G.  R.  K. 


FATHER  AND   THE  BOYS.  203 

Powers   have  retained   power   to   withhold  submissicn   of  questions 
affecting  'their  honor  or  vital  interest.'  "* 

"Honor  and  vital  interests/' — convenient  phrase — a  mat- 
ter of  business — cash  and  commerce,  "plain  dollars  and  cents," 
— under  capitalism. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  another  peace  society.  The 
Peace  Society,  founded  in  London  in  1816,  has  been  busy 
for  almost  a  hundred  years  trying  to  mop  up  the  blood,  so  to 
speak,  never  daring,  or  not  knowing  how,  to  uncover  the 
fundamental  cause  of  war. 

In  at  least  some  respects  a  "Conference"  of  The  Hague 
Peace  Society  is,  itself,  hopelessly  ridiculous  and,  in  ap- 
pearance, wickedly  insincere.  For  example,  at  the  "Confer- 
ence" of  1907  the  delegates  learnedly  and  laughably  discussed 
the  "Humanizing  of  War,"t  and,  after  much  brain-fagging 
effort,  the  delegates  to  the  fakirs'  feast  duly  and  heavily  con- 
cluded as  follows : 

"It  is  especially  prohibited  to  employ  poison  or  poisoned  arms." 

Well  be  it  known  : — 

That  kleptomaniacs'  periodical  luncheon,  or 
''thieves'  supper/'  called  The  Hague  Conference, 
would  have  no  more  work  to  do  for  the  next 
thousand  years,  would  never  again  have  anything 
whatever  to  meet  for,  if  all  bullets  and  all  swords 
and  all  bayonets  used  in  all  the  armies  were 
dipped  in  a  deadly  poison;  for,  in  that  case,  the  work- 
ing class  of  the  whole  world  would  flatly  refuse  to 
volunteer  or  be  drafted  to  serve  in  any  war  anywhere 

UNDER  ANY  CIRCUMSTANCES.  AnD,  OF  COURSE,  THE  SOFT- 
VOICED,  WELL-FED  "HUMANIZERS  OF  WAR"  WOULD  NOT  GO  TO 
AVAR — POISON  OR  NO  POISON.  ThE  UNIVERSAL  USE  OF  POI- 
SONED BULLETS,  SWORDS  AND  BAYONETS  WOULD  MAKE  WAR 
ABSOLUTELY  IMPOSSIBLE,  BECAUSE  THE  INAUGURATION  OF 
SUCH  A  POLICY  AVOULD  MAKE  THE  WORKING  CLASS  THINK. 


*  Documents    of    the    American    Association    for    International 
Conciliation,  1907-08,  p.  22. 

I  See  The  Peace  Conference  at  The  Hague,  pp.  93-120,  and  151. 


204  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

A  thinking  slave  is  the  terror  of  the  plunder-bloated  rulers 
of  the  world — always. 

When  the  workers  once  think  about  war  they  will  promptly 
do  two  things : 

Fir.H,  They  will  refuse  to  go  to  war ; 

Second^  They  will  find  the  cause  of  war,  and  will  remove 
it. 

Of  course,  it  requires  the  deep  and  prayerful  investigation 
of  "great"  and  "prominent  Christian"  gentlemen  in  peace 
conference  assembled  to  discover  that  it  is  wrong  for  men  to 
butcher  men  with  swords  and  bullets  dipped  in  poison,  but 
that  it  is  not  wrong  for  men  to  destroy  men  with  clean  lead 
and  clean  steel,  their  souls  charged  with  hate  as  an  adder's 
fang  Jetting  venom  into  its  victim's  flesh;  to  discover  that  it 
is  wrong  to  have  soldiers  thrust  poison-dipped  bayonets  into 
one  another's  stomachs,  but  that  it  is  not  wrong  for  a  "Chris- 
tian business  men's"  government  to  feed  its  soldiers  on 
poisoned  canned  beef.  The  poor  dupes  who  butcher  one  another 
at  the  word  of  command  are,  of  course,  too  "common"  and 
ignorant  to  understand  the  logical  legerdemain  of  these 
prayerfully  discovered  distinctions;  but  the  learned  and 
prominent  gentlemen  in  peace  conference  assembled,  far,  far 
from  the  battle  line,  smoking  50-cent  cigars,  quaffing  the 
world's  costliest  champagne — these  noble  braves,  these  bottle- 
scarred  heroes,  can  tell  us  all  about  it. 

Certainly. 

With  thoughtful  tenderness  many  Christian  governments, 
influenced  by  peace  societies,  have  made  an  international 
agreement  that,  in  case  of  war,  no  bullet  used  weighing  14 
ounces  or  less  shall  be  an  explosive  bullet, — that  is,  a  bullet 
that  easily  expands,  flattens  and  shatters  when  it  strikes  flesh. 
However,  these  same  "more  refined  and  civilized"  nations  are 
all  at  perfect  liberty  to  use  a  cannon  bullet,  or  shell,  weigh- 
ing hundreds  of  pounds,  charged  with  explosives,  flesh-tearing 
materials  and  deadly  gases,  arranged  with  time-fuses  in  order 
to  explode  over  the  heads  of,  or  among,  a  great  body  of  men 
on  the  field,  or  in  the  midst  of  men  when  it  has  pierced  the 
armor  of  a  war  vessel. 


FATHER  AND  THE  BOYS.  205 

It  is  not  definitely  known  how  these  wise  Christian  states- 
men and  scholars  discovered  that  a  three-hundred  pound  ex- 
plosive bullet  might  properly  and  lovingly  be  used  by  gently 
sensitive  Christian  butchers,  but  that  a  thirteen-ounce  explo- 
sive bullet  might  not  with  propriety  be  used  by  these  loving 
followers  of  the  gentle  Jesus.  Possibly  the  discovery  was 
made  by  some  deep-seeing  pot-house  statesmen  and  scholars 
after  a  prayerful  study  of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, — with 
champagne  on  the  side. 

War  is  "human"  or  "inhuman"  according  to  the  orations, 
discussions,  confusions,  delusions,  conclusions,  decisions  and 
provisions  of  these  perfumed,  patent-leathered  fighters  after  a 
long  fast — on  terrapin,  porter-house  and  "Mumm's  Extra 
Dry." 

The  eloquence  of  the  Hague  Peace  Conference  literature 
concerning  its  long  list  of  extremely  "glorious  achievements" 
would  lead  the  uninstructed  to  suppose  that  till  this  organ- 
ization came  on  the  field  there  had  never  been  a  dispute  set- 
tled without  war.     It  modestly  claims  everything  in  view. 

Note  here  the  fact  that : 

"There  is  no  period  known  to  history  in  which  instances 
are  not  found  of  arhitratioru  as  a  substitute  for  force,  and  we 
can  only  wonder  when  we  consider  the  historical  antiquity  of 
the  former  that  the  latter  should  have  maintained  its  hold  so 
long,  so  constantly  and  so  fiercely."  * 

"Where  are  thy  portents,  Peace? 

What  sign  on  land  or  sea 

Of  thy  great  coming,  of  thy  rule  to  be? 
The  fighting  and  the  drumming  do  not  cease; 
Gun-thunder  smites  the  air. 

And  shakes  the  earth  beneath. 
Bait  we  not  the  war-dogs  in  their  lair, 

And  toil  at  harvesting  of  dragon's  teeth?  .  .  . 

Must  it  forever  be  a  poet's  dream — 
The   land   secure,  the  mind   at   rest. 


*  Harper's  Magazine,  Vol.  87.  See  International  Conciliation 
— Documents  of  the  American  Association  for  Interuational  CJon- 
ciliation,  1907-08:  Third  Paper— "A  League  of  Peace." 


206  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

The  cut-throat  tamed  and  laboring  at  an  oar. 

The  braggart  silent  and  ashamed. 

The  toiler  as  a  monarch  seem, 

The  woman  with  her  baby  at  her  breast, 

Aglow  with  joy  that  war  shall  be  no  more?  . .  ." 

— J.  I.  C.  Clarke,  in  New  York  Times. 

Prominent  people — prominent  chiefly  because  they  are 
elevated  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  working  class — ^liave  been 
talking  about  peace  for  a  long  time.  But  peace  born  of  jus- 
tice, peace  founded  upon  fairness, — that  is  neither  thought  of 
nor  talked  of,  by  the  ruling  class,  in  the  pompous  and  pre- 
tentious peace  conferences ;  it  is  not  on  the  program. 

Father  and  the  boys  of  the  A7orking  class  will  themselves 
have  to  place  peace  on  the  program  of  mankind.  And  one  of 
the  first  things  to  do  is  to  bring  up  the  subject  of  war  and 
peace  in  every  working  class  organization  in  the  world — for 
discussion.     (See  pages  272,  283-289.     Index:  "Carnegie.") 


A  Special  Notice  to  the  Hague  Peace  Society: 

As  to  "limited  armaments" — whether  the  swords  are  long  or 
short,  the  working  class  more  and  more  clearly  see  that  you  intend 
that  the  working  class  shall  continue  to  do  all  the  fighting  in  case 
of  war. 

A  Special  Challenge  to  the  Hague  Peace  Society: 

That  all  delegates  to  the  Conferences  shall  discuss,  not  the 
problems  of  "disarmament,"  but  ( 1 )  the  problem  of  striking  the 
bands  from  the  wrists  of  the  wage-slaves ;  ( 2 )  the  artificial  arbitrary 
restriction  placed  upon  the  consuming  power  of  the  wage-earners, 
out  of  which  fact  grows  the  imminent  world-struggle  for  the  "wor4d- 
market." 

A  Second  Special  Challenge  to  the  Hague  Peace  Society: 

That  the  Society  shall  frankly  announce  in  all  its  Conferences, 
in  all  its  Reports,  in  all  its  leaflets,  in  all  its  lectures  and  sermons, 
that  the  Socialist  Party's  method  of  preventing  war  is  to  frankly 
and  loudly  warn  the  victims  of  war,  the  working  class,  just  what 
war  always  means  to  the  working  class;  and  that  this  method  has 
succeeded  in  preventing  two  wars  in  recent  years  in  cases  where  the 
Hague  Peace  Society  was  powerless. 

A  Third  Special  Challenge  to  the  Hague  Peace  Society: 

That  the  Society  shall  explain  why  the  Capitalist  masters  of 
the  Hague  Peace  Society  will  not  permit  their  vassals  in  the  Con- 
ferences to  accept  the  Second  Challenge. 


The  author  of  WAR— WHAT  FOR?,  in  the  summer  of  1910, 
attended  a  National  Peace  Conference  in  New  York  City.  The  Con- 
ference was  attended  by  some  of  tlie  most  distinguished  peace- 
wishers  in  the  United  States,  including  capitalists,  orators  and  col- 
lege professors.  The  author  was  given  the  floor  to  address  the 
Convention.  Everything  went  well  until  the  author  began  to  urge 
that  all  who  want  peace  should  make  every  possible  effort  to 
WARN  THE  VICTIMS  of  war,  the  working  class,  of  what  war 
means  to  the  working  class.  Instantly  there  was  manifest  discom- 
fort all  through  the  audience,  and  very  soon  the  chairman  left  his 
seat,  came  close  to  tlie  speaker  and  urged  that  the  speech  be  con- 
eluded  at  oace.     Xo  other  speaker  waa  thus  interrupted. 


THE   NOBLE   ROLE   OF   COSSACKS   AND    MILITIAMEN 

(Respectfully  submitted  to  the  Hague  Peace  Society,  to  Andrew  Carnegie 
and  to  the  Trustees  of  his  Ten-Million-Dolla;  Peace- Fund — as  a  helpful 
suggestion  in  their  cheerfully  prayerful  and  premeditatedly  tearful 
^'search  for   the  causes  of  ivar") 


CHAPTER  EIGHT. 
For   Mother   and  the   Boys  and  Girls. 

Topics  for  consideration,  especially  by  the  mothers  in  the 
working  class.* 

(1)   "Will  there  be,  indeed,  more  wars?" 

Yes,  undoubtedly.! 

"What  shall  be  done  about  it?" 

There  are  two  things  to  be  done,  by  the  mother,  right 
away :  Think  about  war  and  talk  about  war  with  other  mothers 
and  the  boys — also  with  the  girls. 

Let  us  see : 

In  the  next  war  whose  sons  shall  be  shot? 

The  aristocrat's  wife  is  not  worrying  about  whose  children 
are  to  be  destroyed  in  the  next  war.  She  knows  already  that 
her  sons  will  not  be  destroyed  in  battle;  her  sons  will  not 
stand  before  Gatling  guns;  her  sons  will  not  be  torn  and  lie 
bleeding,  groaning,  screaming  and  cursing  on  the  steel-swept 
battlefield  by  day  or  through  the  long  night;  her  sons  will 
not  fester  and  sicken  and  die  in  dismal  battlefield  hospitals; 
she  knows  that  her  sons  will  not  be  pitched  into  nameless 
trenches — ^buried  like  dogs;  her  flesh  and  blood,  her  slain 
sons,  will  not  be  brought  home  to  mock  her  aching  heart. 

That  is  settled — positively. 

She  belongs  to  the  ruling  class. 

The  ruling  class  protect  her  and  the  men  and  boys  she 
loves — loyally. 

But  the  working  class  mother — the  humble  mother  of 
wage-slaves — she  feels  no  such  security.  Herod  and  Mars  in- 
vade her  home  to  steal  the  men  and  boys  she  loves.  The  rude 
fist  of  war  is  ever  ready  to  crush  her.     This  humble  woman 


*  See   foot-note   on  page    13;    and   also   introductory   paragraph, 
Chapter  Seven,  preceding  Section  1. 
•j-See  Index:   "Another  War." 


208  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

is  ■wholly  unprotected  against  war  by  the  ruling  class.  She 
is  also  unprotected  against  war  by  the  voting  men  of  her 
own  class. 

This  woman  must  protect  herself — for  the  present. 

Let  it  be  remembered  that  in  the  gentle  heart  of  a  humble 
mother  whose  loving  sons  have  been  butchered  in  battle,  it 
is  always  winter.  The  cheap  rhetoric  and  hypocritical  com- 
pliments of  the  coarse-grained  political  orator,  the  honeyed 
words  of  any  man  in  any  profession — sacred  or  secular — craft- 
ily exempted  from  the  war  which  slew  her  loved  ones,  these 
can  not  charm  the  wintry  desolation  of  her  life  into  rare  June 
weather.  Nor  can  the  wound  in  her  mother  heart  be  healed 
with  a  stingy  quarterly  allowance  of  filthy  money  called  a 
pension.  When  her  loved  ones  were  slaughtered  her  joys  were 
slain. 

This  woman  must  indeed  protect  herself;  and  she  can 
protect  herself,  somewhat, — if  she  will. 

She  can  do  this :  She  can  teach  her  child  to  hate — to  hate 
war.* 

(2)  Mother,  is  your  five-year-old  son  strong,  healthy  and 
handsome  ?  Yes  ?  Well,  that  is  fine.  But  think  of  him  at  the 
age  of  twenty  in  slaughtering  clothes,  being  transformed  into 
a  swaggering  armed  bully.  Mother,  if  he  should  be  tricked 
into  the  army  and  butchered  and  his  torn  corpse  should  be 
brought  home  to  you,  you  would  then  know  what  other 
mothers  feel  when  their  boys,  whom  your  son  butchers,  are 
brought  home  to  them.  Then,  perhaps,  war  would  seem 
quite  different — far  less  "great"  and  "glorious"  to  you.  You 
see,  mother,  in  a  war  soine  mothers'  boys  must  be  butchered. 
Perhaps  a  false  patriotism  has  been  taught  to  you — just  as  a 
false  patriotism  is  taught  your  sons.  Both  the  mother  and 
her  sons  are  confused.  To  get  the  working  class  boy  ready 
for  war  the  capitalist  must  first  confuse  and  trick  the  mother. 

Kings,  emperors,  presidents,  tsars,  and  capitalists  of  all 
lands  are  lovingly  interested  in  the  problem  of  "race  suicide," 
the  problem  of  small  families, — interested  in  the  "food-for- 


See  Chapter  Seven,  Section  30. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  209 

powder"  crop,  the  'bullet-stopper"  crop, — eager  that  every 

WORKING  CLASS  MOTHER  SHOULD  BECOME  A  BREEDER.      After 

Napoleon  Bonaparte  had  had  multitudes  of  the  men  and 
boys  of  France  butchered,  making  it  difficult  to  find  soldiers, 
he  impatiently  exclaimed,  "What  France  needs  is  mothers !" 
What  he  meant  was  that  France  needed  more  human  breeders 
flattered  into  bearing  and  rearing  more  butchers  for  Napo- 
leon. Of  course  Napoleon  was  shrewd  enough  to  confuse  the 
humble  mothers  with  plenty  of  cheap  flattery  concerning  their 
"patriotism."  *  Capitalists  to-day  want  larger  working  class 
families  for  more  soldiers,  also  for  a  larger  army  of  unem- 
ployed— in  order  that  the  capitalists  may,  in  the  industrial 
civil  war,  more  tyrannically  dictate  the  wage  terms  to  the 
workers  and  also  more  easily  secure  substitutes  in  case  of  a 
war. 

And  to  this  end  the  capitalists  are  willing  to  pay  the 
price;  that  is,  willing  to  pay  for  the  social  chloroform,  for 
the  false  teachings,  necessary  to  beget  a  slave's  blind  enthusi- 
asm for  the  master  that  betrays  him — called  patriotism. 

(3)  Thomas  Carlyle  called  working  class  soldiers  simple- 
tons. A  person  of  good  mind,  however,  if  caught  young,  can 
be  confused  till  he  will  actually  volunteer  to  butcher  his  fel- 
lowman.  This  can  be  done  in  many  ways;  for  example,  take 
Fitchburg,  Massachusetts,  May  29-30,  1908.  The  very  small 
children,  also  ten-year-olds,  and  those  still  older,  were  assem- 
bled, according  to  age,  in  halls,  churches,  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  auditorium,  and  elsewhere.  May  29;  and  for  long 
weary  hours  gory  stories  of  "bravery"  in  war  were  recited  to 
them,  horrible  pictures  were  displayed  before  them,  blood- 
curdling suggestions  were  urged  upon  them,  cheap  lusts  for 
cheap  glory  were  inspired  in  the  helpless  youngsters, — just 
as  a  savage  might  teach  his  little  sons  to  rip  the  scalp  from 
a  screaming  victim's  skull  And  humble  mothers  of  the 
working  class  were  tricked  into  co-operating  in  this  anti-social 
"patriotism." 

Such  abominable  performances  stunt  the  children.    Their 


*  See  Index :     "Napoleon.' 


210  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

social  development  is  arrested.  They  become  jingoists,  igno- 
rant little  bigots — utterly  incapable  of  sincere  international 
love.  Their  political  philosophy  is  a  shallow  and  silly  "Hur- 
rah !"  Their  "patriotism"  becomes  a  belittling  conceit  and  a 
readiness  for  cruel  deeds. 

Everybody,  of  course,  loves  a  frank,  finely  social  child. 
International  and  national  murder  is  a  coarse  and  unsocial 
thought;  and  when  parents,  teachers,  preachers,  or  lecturers, 
speak  enthusiastically  of  wholesale  murder  or  of  famous  na- 
tional and  international  murderers  in  the  presence  of  a  child, 
the  child's  social  development  is  checked,  stunted;  when  a 
few  suggestions  of  international  jealousy  and  malice  have 
been  ignorantly  (or  cunningly)  thrust  into  a  child's  mind  it 
becomes  simply  impossible  for  the  child  to  develop  into  an 
"international  man,"  a  finely  social  person  sincerely  loving 
his  fellowmen.  This  would  be  a  charming  world  if  all  men 
and  women  were  social — socialized,  unblasted,  unstung  by 
shriveling  national  jealousy  and  malice;  but  everywhere  the 
vile  business  of  blasting  the  social  nature  of  the  rising  gen- 
eration is  being  extended.  The  school,  even,  is  invaded.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Walter  Walsh  warns  parents  thus:* 

"The  school  has  become  not  only  the  training  ground,  but  actu- 
ally a  recruiting  ground  for  the  army.  The  British  War  Ofl&ce 
issues  a  circular  pressing  secondary  schools  to  teach  boys  over 
twelve  the  use  of  the  rifle;  issues  Morris  tube  carbines  to  schools 
having  suitable  ranges;  and  supplies  ammunition  at  cost  price. 
The  inevitable  next  step  is  the  formation  of  cadet  corps  in  the 
schools,  with  inspection  by  military  chiefs.  .  .  .  The  capture  of  the 
schools  by  the  militarists  is  one  of  the  most  ominous  signs  of  the 
times.  The  militarist  has  long  looked  with  wistful  eye  at  this 
happy  hunting  grounds.  .  .  .  Parliaments  have  already  been  strongly 
urged  to  make  military  drill  compulsory  in  all  public  schools.  .  •  . 
The  scholar  is  rapidly  transformed  into  the  conscript." 

The  shameless  audacity  of  using  a  socializing  institution, 
the  school,  to  cultivate  national  malice  in  the  helpless  children ! 

(4)  If  only  th©  children  could  get  one  good  look  at  the 
hell  behind  the  curtain  it  would  be  more  diflScult  to  begtdle 
and  betray  them. 


The  Moral  Damage  of  War,  pp.  OT-OG. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  211 

Let  the  wonderful  Zola  tell  what  the  boys  in  the  public 
schools  are  tiot  taught  and  are  not  permitted  to  realize  till 
later  when  they  are  grown  up  and  are  seduced  to  the  battle- 
field with  the  crafty  cry,  "Follow  the  flag !" 

Here  following  are  some  paragraphs  on  the  battlefield  hos- 
pital. A  military  hospital,  it  may  be  said,  is  an  institution 
in  which  sick  and  shell-torn  men  are  hastily  repaired  in  order 
that  they  may  go  again  to  the  battle  line — perchance  to  faint 
or  be  ripped  to  pieces  again.     Thus  Zola :  * 

".  .  .  Outside  in  the  shed  the  preparations  were  of  another 
nature:  the  chests  were  opened  and  the  contents  arranged  in  order. 
.  .  .  On  another  table  were  the  surgical  cases  with  their  blood-cur- 
dling array  of  glittering  instruments,  probes,  forceps,  bistouries, 
scalpels,  scissors,  saws,  an  arsenal  of  implements  of  every  imaginable 
shape  adapted  to  pierce,  cut,  dice,  rend,  crush.  .  .  .  The  wagons 
kept  driving  up  to  the  entrance  in  an  unbroken  stream.  .  .  .  The 
regular  ambulance  wagons  of  the  medical  department,  two-wheeled 
and  four-wheeled,  were  too  few  in  number  to  meet  the  demand  .  .  . 
provision  vans,  everything  on  wheels  that  could  be  picked  up  on  the 
battlefield,  came  rolling  up  with  their  ghastly  loads;  and  later  in 
the  day  carrioles  and  market-gardeners'  carts  were  pressed  into  the 
service  and  harnessed  to  horses  that  were  found  straying  along  the 
roads.  ...  It  was  a  sight  to  move  the  most  callous  to  behold  the 
unloading  of  those  poor  wretches,  some  with  the  greenish  pallor  on 
their  faces,  others  suffused  with  the  purple  hue  that  denotes  con- 
gestion; many  were  in  a  state  of  coma,  others  uttered  piercing  cries 
of  anguish  .  .  .  the  keen  knife  flashed  in  the  air,  there  was  the  faint 
rasping  of  the  saw  barely  audible,  the  blood  spurted  in  short  sharp 
jets.  ...  As  soon  as  the  subject  had  been  operated  on  another  was 
brought  in,  and  they  followed  one  another  in  such  quick  succession 
that  there  was  barely  time  to  pass  the  sponge  over  the  protecting 
oil-cloth.  At  the  extremity  of  the  grass  plot,  screened  from  sight 
by  a  clump  of  lilac  bushes,  they  had  set  up  a  kind  of  morgue  whither 
they  carried  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  which  were  removed  from  the 
beds  without  a  moment's  delay  in  order  to  make  room  for  the  liv- 
ing, and  this  receptacle  also  served  to  receive  the  amputated  legs 
and  arms,  whatever  dSbris  of  flesh  and  bone  remained  upon  the 
table.  .  .  .  Rents  in  tattered,  shell-torn  uniforms  disclosed  gaping 
wounds,  some  of  which  had  received  a  hastv  dressing:  on  the  battle- 


*  See  The  Downfall,  passim,  Part  II.,  also  p.  446.  This  power- 
ful story  (published  by  the  Macmillan  Company,  New  York)  is  here 
again  heartily  commended  to  all  readers  of  War — What  For?  Again 
the  author  thanks  the  publishers  for  reprint  privileges. 


212  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

field,  while  others  were  still  raw  and  bleeding.  There  were  feet, 
still  encased  in  their  coarse  shoes,  crushed  into  a  mass  like  jelly; 
from  knees  and  elbows,  that  were  as  if  they  had  been  smashed  by 
a  hammer,  depended  inert  limbs.  There  were  broken  hands,  and 
fingers  almost  severed,  ready  to  drop,  retained  only  by  a  strip  of 
skin.  Most  numerous  among  the  casualties  were  the  fractures; 
the  poor  arms  and  legs,  red  and  swollen,  throbbed  intolerably  and 
were  as  heavy  as  lead.  But  the  most  dangerous  hurts  were  those 
in  the  abdomen,  chest,  and  head.  There  were  yawning  fissures  that 
laid  open  the  entire  flank,  the  knotted  viscera  were  drawn  into  great 
hard  lumps  beneath  the  tight-drawn  skin,  while  as  the  effect  of 
certain  wounds  the  patient  frothed  at  the  mouth  and  writhed  like 
an  epileptic.  .  .  .  And  finally  the  head,  more  than  any  other  portion 
of  the  frame,  gave  evidence  of  hard  treatment;  a  broken  jaw,  the 
mouth  a  pulp  of  teeth  and  bleeding  tongue,  an  eye  torn  from  its 
socket  and  exposed  upon  the  cheek,  a  cloven  skull  that  showed  the 
palpitating  brain  beneath.  .  .  .  Although  the  sponge  was  kept  con- 
stantly at  work  the  tables  were  always  red.  .  .  .  The  buckets  .  .  . 
were  emptied  over  a  bed  of  daisies  a  few  steps  away.  .  .  .  Some 
seemed  to  have  left  the  world  with  a  sneer  on  their  faces,  their  eyes 
retroverted  till  naught  was  visible  but  the  whites,  the  grinning  lips 
parted  over  the  glistening  teeth,  while  in  others  with  faces  un- 
speakably sorrowful,  big  tears  still  stood  on  the  cheeks.  One,  a 
mere  boy,  short  and  slight,  half  whose  face  had  been  shot  away 
by  a  cannon  ball,  had  his  two  hands  clasped  convulsively  above 
his  heart,  and  in  them  a  woman's  photograph,  one  of  those  pale, 
blurred  pictures  that  are  made  in  the  quarters  of  the  poor,  bedabbled 
with  his  blood.  And  at  the  feet  of  the  dead  had  been  thrown  in  a 
promiscuous  pile  the  amputated  arms  and  legs,  the  refuse  of  the 
knife  and  the  saw  of  the  operating  table,  just  as  the  butcher  sweeps 
into  a  corner  of  his  shop  the  offal,  the  worthless  odds  and  ends 
of  flesh  and  bone.  .  .  •  Bourouche,  brandishing  the  long,  keen  knife, 
cried:  'Raise  him!'  seized  the  deltoid  with  his  left  hand  and  with 
a  swift  movement  of  the  right  cut  through  the  flesh  of  the  arm 
and  severed  the  muscle;  then,  with  a  deft  rear-ward  cut,  he  dis- 
articulated the  joint  at  a  single  stroke,  and,  presto!  the  arm  fell 
on  the  table,  taken  off  in  three  motions.  .  .  ,  'Let  him  down!'  .  .  . 
he  had  done  it  in  thirty  seconds.  .  .  .  Their  strength  all  gone,  re- 
duced to  skeletons,  with  ashen,  clayey  faces,  the  miserable  wretches 
suffered  the  torments  of  the  damned.  .  .  .  The  patients  writhed  and 
shrieked  in  unceasing  delirium,  or  sat  erect  in  bed  with  the  look 
of  spectres.  .  .  .  There  were  others  again  who  maintained  a  con- 
tinuous howling.  .  .  .  Often  gangrene  kept  mounting  higher  and 
higher,  and  the  amputation  had  to  be  repeated  until  the  entire  limb 
was  gone." 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  213 

And  that  is  hell — for  which  your  children  are  prepared. 

This  phase  of  war  is  shrewdly  kept  from  the  children.  No 
child's  mind  could  be  poisoned,  no  child's  imagination  could 
be  set  on  fire  for  war,  no  child's  heart  could  be  made  to  lust 
for  the  "glory"  of  the  battlefield  of  carnage — if  he  were  shown 
this  side  of  war. 

But  the  child  is  an  easy  victim.  Even  some  cheap  jingo 
jingle  called  patriotic  poetry  renders  the  working  class  the 
easy,  fooled  tool  of  despots.  The  victimizing  of  the  helpless 
child  is  rendered  especially  easy  when  the  mother,  blindfold 
with  flattery,  gullibly  lends  assistance  in  strangling  the  child's 
sociability.     (See  Chapter  Seven,  Section  30.) 

(5)  Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  poison  craftily  used  in  the 
public  schools  under  the  control  of  the  capitalist  class : 

"A  soldier  is  the  grandest  man 

That  ever  yet  was  made. 
He's  valiant  on  the  battlefield 

And  handsome  on  parade. 
By  strict  attention  to  my  drill 

It  should  not  take  me  long 
For  me  to  be  an  officer 

When  I  am  big  and  strong. 
Then,  when  my  country  needs  me. 

In  case  of  war's  alarms, 
I'd  run  and  get  my  uniform* 

And  call  the  boys  to  arms! 
With  sword  in  hand  I'd  lead  the  charg 

My  orders  I  would  yell 
Above  the  noise  of  cannon's  roar 

And  storms  of  shot  and  shell. 
We'd  dash  upon  the  foreign  foe, 

As  Teddy  did  of  yore, 
Who  took  the  hill  while  covered  with 

Dust,  victory  and  gore! 
With  banners  gay,  while  bugles  play, 

We'd  seek  our  native  land. 
Upon  a  horse  I'd  ride  that  day, 

The  General  in  Command  !"f 


•Precisely!  Never  stopping  to  inquire:  Who  declared  this 
war?  or  what  for? 

f  Quoted  by  George  Allan  England,  in  New  York  Daily  Call, 
Dec.  2,  1909. 


214  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Will  the  mothers  protect  their  children's  nature  against 
the  unsocial  small  souls  who  are  always  ignorantly  or  mali- 
ciously ready  to  thrust  fangs  and  venom  into  the  generous 
natures  of  frank  and  social  children  by  havinf  them  recite 
stupid  praise  of  distinguished  human  butchers  and  "famous 
victories"  ? 

An  American  literary  man  of  great  eminence,  Dr.  Edward 
Everett  Hale,  thus  rebuked  the  poisoners  of  school  children : 

"But  even  now,  think  how  much  more  care  you  give  to  the 
study  of  the  histories  of  war  than  to  the  histories  of  peace.  There 
are  ten  times  as  many  people  who  know  who  commanded  at  the 
Battle  of  New  Orleans  as  there  are  who  could  tell  me  the  name 
of  the  great  apostle  who  made  freedom  the  law  for  Ohio,  Indiana, 
Illinois,  Iowa,  Wisconsin,  Minnesota,  North  Dakota,  South  Dakota 
and  Michigan.     This  man  died  leaving  no  memorial."* 

(6)  The  working  class  should  speedily  get  control  of 
public  libraries  and  throw  out  and  keep  out  books  written 
especially  to  exalt  war  and  puff  the  brilliant  butchers  who 
have  guided  millions  of  working  men  to  death  on  blood-soaked 
battlefields, — throw  out  and  burn  all  books  designed  to  praise 
the  Christian  or  pagan  cannibalism,  or  the  civilized  savagery 
called  war.    Labor  unions  and  all  other  working  class 

BODIES  should  MAKE  FORMAL  AND  VIGOROUS  PROTEST  AGAINST 
HAVING  ANYTHING  SAID  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  IN  PRAISE 
OF    WAR    AND    IN    PR^ilSE   OF    DISTINGUISHED    BUTCHERS.       Let 

them  reflect  too  that  military  drills,  given  as  such,  with  mar- 
tial songs  and  war  tales,  cultivate  blood  lust  in  the  children, 
blind  them  to  the  true  meaning  of  war,  make  them  an  easy 
prey,  later,  to  the  crafty  cowards  who  will  seek  to  use  them  in 
future  savage  contests,  and  are  thus  an  outrage  on  the  chil- 
dren. For  a  dozen  reasons  the  working  class  should  get  con- 
trol of  local  school  boards.f 

(7)  The  following  lines  from  a  poem  written  by  an  ele- 


*  See  Lucia  A.  Mead's  Patriotism  and  the  New  International- 
ism, p.  22. 

■j-  Read  Walter  Walsh's  Moral  Damage  of  War,  Chapter  Three 
on  the  "Moral  Damage  of  War  to  the  Children."  The  chapter  is  of 
startling  importance. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  215 

gant  coward,  are  often  used  in  the  primary  grades  of  the 
public  schools : 

"Form!    Form!    Riflemen,    form! 
Ready!   be  ready  to  meet  the  storm! 
Riflemen!       Riflemen!       Riflemen,    form!" 

A  SCHOOL  TEACHER  CAN  MAKE  A  FOOL  AND  A  MTJRDEKER 
OF  A  BOY  OF  EIGHT  OR  TEN  YEARS  WITH  SUCH  LINES.  EeMEM- 
BER  THAT  POETS  AND  TEACHERS  WHO  FURNISH  THE  WAR-SONG 
CHLOROFORM  FOR  SCHOOL  CHILDREN  USUALLY  "siDE-STEP" 
WHEN  THE  STORM  BREAKS — NO  RIFLE  BUSINESS  FOR  THEM — 
THEY  LET  OTHERS  "mEET  THE  STORM""  WHICH  THEIR  POETRY 
AND  TEACHING  HELPED  STIR  UP.  ThE  WAR-SONG  POET  AND 
THE  WAR-SONG  SCHOOL  TEACHER,  IF  YOU  PLEASE,  ARE 
TOO  ""CULTIVATED  AND  RESPECTABLE^  TO  BB  PATRIOTICALLY 
BUTCHERED. 

Under  no  circumstances  should  a  working  class  father  and 
mother  keep  silent  while  a  public  school  teacher  or  a  Sunday- 
school  teacher  thrills  the  children's  blood  and  blasts  the 
glorious  sentiments  of  human  brotherhood  with  recitals  of 
war-tales  and  fulsome  praise  of  men  whose  "glory"  is  red  with 
the  blood  of  tens  of  thousands  of  working  class  men.  Such 
stories  and  such  praise  scar  and  brutalize  the  social  natures  of 
the  children  as  distinctly  as  a  hot  branding  iron  would  dis- 
figure their  tender  faces. 

(8)  The  little  lovers,  the  children,  who  are  conceived  in 
love,  born  in  love,  and  live  on  love,  who  hunger  for  love,  long 
to  love,  glorify  the  home  with  love  and  make  the  sad  world 
hope  for — almost  mad  for — love,  one  generation  of  these 
sweet  little  lovers,  these  prattling  sweethearts  of  mankind, 
would,  when  grown  up,  fill  the  world  with  an  international 
love,  if  they  were  not  bitten  by  the  viper  of  petty,  local 
patriotism. 

The  mother  who  will  think  about  this  matter  somewhat 
will  promptly  realize  that  there  is  something  disastrously 
wrong  with  the  education  which  stings  her  little  lovers  with 
a  murderer's  aspiration.  There  is  something  wrong  when  the 
gracious  neighborliness  and  charming  sociability  of  children 
give  way  to  swaggering  insolence  and  savage  blood-lust. 


216  WAE—WHAT  FOR? 

Let  the  mother  think  of  it:  Even  their  playthings,  their 
toys,  are  craftily  used  to  sting,  to  debauch  the  imagination  of 
the  children,  to  write  the  hopes  of  brutes  in  the  hearts  of 
gentle  children.  Lately  there  has  been  enormous  increase  in 
the  business  of  manufacturing  toy  soldiers,  toy  cavalry  horses, 
toy  cannon  and  toy  Gatling  guns,  also  khaki  soldier  clothing 
for  children,  "120,000  bales  of  scrap  tin  from  the  Puget 
Sound  canneries  were  sent  recently  to  Hamburg,  Germany,  to 
be  made  into  toy  soldiers."*  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the 
results  of  using  such  garb  and  playthings.  That  the  child  is 
thus  scarred  is  revealed  when  the  tiny  boy  assumes  the  atti- 
tudes and  the  strut  and  swagger  of  the  professional  man- 
slaughterer.  His  very  conversation  with  his  military  toys 
shows  he  is  marked — ready.f 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  wrote : 

"My  country  is  the  world,  my  countrymen  are  all  mankind." 

But  the  stung  child  can  not  learn  the  meaning  of  Garri- 
son's  noble  words. 

(9)  Boy,  kill  one  human  being,  and  you  will  be  called  a 
murderer — despised  and  hanged.  But  kill  a  thousand  human 
beings  in  war — and  you  become  "great" !  Deluded  women 
smile  upon  you,  little  children  gape  at  you,  preachers  praise 
you,  politicians  pet  you,  orators  glorify  you,  capitalists  grin 
at  you,  universities  honor  you,  and  the  Government  medals 
and  pensions  you; — but  lonely,  war-orphaned  children  and 
war-robbed  widows,  these  despise  you  exactly  in  proportion  as 
they  understand  you. 

Eemember,  boy,  the  soldier's  sword  reaches  through  the 
slaughtered  father  to  others — reaches  the  hearts  of  helpless 
women  and  helpless  children. 

Which  would  you  rather  be,  boy,  a  dead  and  useless 
slaughterer  of  men,  or  a  live  and  useful  man  of  peace? — a 
dead  butcher  or  a  live  brother? 


*New  York  World,  editorial,  May  6,  1910. 

•fSee  New  York  Times,  October   31,   1908,  long  article  on  the 
increasing  manufacture  of  such  toys. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  217 

(10)   Here,  of  course,  the  thought  of  patriotism  occurs. 
A  great  American,  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson,  wrote: 

"We  hesitate  to  employ  a  word  so  much  abused  ab  patriotism, 
whose  true  sense  ia  almost  the  reverse  of  the  popular  senae.  We 
have  no  sympathy  with  that  boyish  egotism,  hoarse  with  cheering 
for  one  side,  for  one  state,  for  one  town;  the  right  patriotism  con- 
sists in  the  delight  which  springs  from  contributing  our  peculiar 
legitimate  advantages  to  the  benefit  of  humanity." 

And  thus  James  Russell  Lowell  :* 

"There  is  a  patriotism  of  the  soul  whose  claim  absolves  us 
from  our  other  and  terrene  fealty.  .  .  .  When,  therefore,  one 
would  have  us  throw  up  our  caps  and  shout  with  the  multitude, 
'Our  country,  however  bounded!'  he  demands  of  us  that  we  sacri- 
fice the  larger  to  the  less,  the  higher  to  the  lower,  and  that  we  yield 
to  the  imaginary  claims  of  a  few  acres  of  soil  our  duty  and  priv- 
ilege as  liegemen  of  Truth.  Our  true  country  is  bounded  on  the 
north  and  the  south,  on  the  east  and  the  west,  by  justice.  .  .  . 
Veiling  our  faces,  we  must  take  silently  the  hand  of  Duty  to  fol- 
low her." 

The  fallacy  of  false  patriotism  is  exploded  in  the  follow- 
ing quotation  by  James  Mackayeif 

"There  is  a  school  of  patriotism  more  or  less  popular  which 
teaches  that  a  man  owes  to  his  country  a  duty  which  he  owes  to 
no  other  aggregate  of  the  human  race,  and  that  he  should  render 
service  to  the  constituted  authorities  thereof,  whatever  policies  they 
may  choose  to  pursue.  The  motto  of  this  school  is  'My  country, 
right  or  wrong.'  Had  this  been  the  motto  of  Washington  and  his 
compatriots  the  United  States  would  still  be  a  part  of  the  British 
Empire.  The  particular  aggregate  of  men  which  constitutes  a 
nation  is  a  matter  of  the  merest  accident.  .  .  .  Indeed  the  patriotism 
whose  dictum  is  'My  country,  right  or  wrong'  is  but  one  degree 
of  egotism,  for  if  my  country  right  or  wrong,  why  not  my  state 
right  or  wrong;  if  my  state  right  or  wrong,  why  not  my  town  .  .  . 
my  neighborhood  .  .  .  my  family  ,  .  .  my  great  uncle  ...  or 
why  not  myself  right  or  wrong?" 

George  Washington  was  disloyal  to  his  own  government, 
the  greatest  national  government  in  the  world  in  his  day, 
simply  because  that  government  did  not  do  things  to  suit  him. 


*  Quoted  by  Walter  Walsh :  Moral  Damage  of  War,  p.  380. 
•\The  Economy  of  Happiness,  pp.  519-20. 


218  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Washington  took  up  arms  against  his  own  government  because 
it  did  not  suit  him.  Washington  was  unpatriotic  toward  his 
great  national  government  because  it  did  not  please  him. 
Washington  even  trampled  upon  the  flag  of  his  own  national 
government  because  that  government's  policy  did  not  suit  him. 

But  Washington  was  loyal  to  his  own  interests.  He  was 
patriotic  toward  the  new  revolutionary  government  that  did 
suit  him.  He  transferred  his  allegiance  to  a  new  flag  and  a 
new  constitution  and  a  new  government  and  thus  protected 
his  economic  interests. 

And  all  these  things  are  true,  strictly  true,  of  almost  every 
great  American  in  the  times  of  Washington.  Nearly  every 
"leading  citizen"  in  England  at  that  time  thought  the  be- 
havior of  the  great  Americans  was  "simply  awful,"  "outland- 
ishly  anarchistic." 

The  "patriotic"  great  men  in  England  were  protecting 
their  economic  interests  and  used  their  government  to  protect 
those  interests. 

The  "unpatriotic"  Americans  were  protecting  their  eco- 
nomic interests,  and  they  despised  the  government  that  would 
not  protect  their  interests,  and  they  straightway  constructed 
a  government  which  they  could  use  in  protecting  their  inter- 
ests. Then  they  became  patriotic  toward  the  new  government 
which  they  were  using  to  protect  their  interests. 

Always  those  in  possession  of  the  powers  of  government 
use  the  Government  to  protect  themselves — that  is,  to  protect 
their  interests;  and  they  never  fail  to  shrewdly  shout,  "Pa- 
triotism !"  and  teach  "patriotism" ;  nor  do  they  ever  fail  to 
shout,  "Unpatriotic !"  at  any  group  or  class  who  seek  to  re- 
organize government  in  self-defense. 

"Patriotism  !"  "Love  of  our  country !"  Yes,  indeed ! 
But,  doesn't  the  average  American  working  class  man  look 
ridiculous  shouting,  "Hurrah  for  our  country — our  land  of 
the  free"?  He  has  no  voice  in  the  control  of  the  factory 
where  he  works ;  has  no  voice  as  to  the  use  of  the  militia  and 
the  soldiers ;  has  no  right  to  demand  a  job  and  thus  defend  his 
life;  he  could  not  have  the  service  of  one  petty  village  mar- 
shal, to  open  up  a  "shut-dowTi"   factory,   even   though   the 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  219 

opening  of  the  factory  would  save  him  and  five  thousand  other 
men  and  their  twenty-five  thousand  women  and  children  from 
starvation;  in  the  mill  and  mine  and  factory  he  has  no  voice 
as  to  who  shall  be  his  foreman  or  superintendent  any  more 
than  black  chattel  slaves  in  Georgia  cotton  fields  in  1850. 

Our  country !  Land  of  the  free !  Where  the  president  of 
the  American  Federation  of  Labor  could  be  clapped  into  jail 
if  he  should  use  the  "freedom  of  the  press"  to  publish  even  a 
short  list  of  boycotted  industrial  tyrants;  where  the  officers 
of  the  Western  Federation  of  Miners  were  kidnapped  and  the 
kidnapping  was  declared  to  be  constitutional  by  the  highest 
court  in  the  land,  and  the  untried  prisoners  (constitutionally 
entitled  to  all  the  presumptions  of  innocence)  were  declared 
guilty  by  the  cheap  President  of  the  political  mockery  called 
a  "free  republic." 

(11)  Mothers  and  fathers  are  not  permitted  to  learn  of 
many  of  the  foul  things  happening  at  barracks  or  far  away 
whither  their  sons  have  been  "flimflammed"  for  bullet-stop- 
pers. 

For  President  William  H.  Taft's  official  testimony  on  the 
sexual  degradation  of  the  soldier  sons  of  loving  mothers,  see 
Chapter  Four,  Section  One,  of  the  present  volume. 

"On  the  17th  of  July,  1899,  the  staif  correspondents  of  American 
newspapers  stationed  in  Manila  stated  unitedly  in  public  protest: 

"  'The  [Press]  censorship  has  compelled  us  to  participate  in 
this  misrepresentation  by  excising  or  altering  uncontroverted 
statements  of  fact,  on  the  plea,  as  General  Otis  said,  that  "they 
would  alarm  the  people  at  home,"  or  "have  the  people  of  the  United 
States  by  the  ears."  '  "* 

Some  things,  you  know,  must  be  concealed.  President 
D.   S.   Jordan    (Leland   Stanford   University)    writes  rf 

"Does  the  Outlook  [editor]  know  what  Manila  is  becoming 
under  military  rule?  We  hear  of  four  hundred  saloons  on  the 
Escolta,  where  two  were  before;  that  twenty-one  per  c«nt.  of  our 
soldiers  are  attacked  with  venereal  disease,  that  according  to  the 
belief  of  the  soldiers,  'even  the  pigs  and  dogs  have  the  syphilis.' " 

FoUtwing  the  Spanish  war,  venereal  diseases  as  cause  of 

*  Walter   Walsh:     Moral  Damage  of  War,  p.  376. 
•^Imperial  Democracy,  p.  270. 


220  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

ineffectiveness  and  cause  for  discharge  from  the  army  in- 
creased two  and  a  half  fold;  that  is,  two  hundred  and  fifty 
per  cent*  The  statement  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  Mr.  Dick- 
inson (Report  for  1909,  p.  17)  is  sufficient  to  disgust  and 
anger  every  woman  in  the  land  with  the  entire  filthy  business 
of  militarism.  For  the  startling  statement  see  Chapter  Four, 
Section  One,  of  present  volume. 

In  this  connection  read  the  words  of  an  officer  in  the 
Department  of  War,  Col.  John  Van  Rensselaer  :t 

"I  have  but  one  word  to  say.  I  am  an  officer  of  the  Medical 
Corps  of  the  Army,  and  will  speak  on  this  important  subject  from 
that  standpoint. 

"Every  soldier  excused  from  duty  on  account  of  sickness  of 
any  kind  has  a  record  made  of  his  case.  By  reason  of  this  fact,  I 
believe  I  may  safely  say  that  military  vital  statistics,  including 
venereal  diseases,  are  the  most  complete  extant. 

"The  authorities  observing  that  there  has  been  in  recent  years 
a  progressive  increase  of  these  diseases  in  the  Army,  until  the  non- 
efficiency  from  them  with  us  now  exceeds  that  of  any  other  army, 
and  despairing  of  help  from  the  civil  control  of  prostitution,  have 
instituted  a  plan  within  the  service  by  which  they  hope  to  reduce 
the  excessive  non-efficiency  from  venereal.  Medical  officers  are 
required  to  instruct  the  men  in  the  nature  and  dangers  of  these 
diseases,  the  non-necessity  of  exposure  to  them.  .  •  . 

"Such  instruction  is  valuable  to  a  certain  extent,  but  only  to  a 
certain  extent.  .  .  .  We  cannot,  therefore,  expect  all  of  our  men,  so 
many  of  whom  are  at  the  age  of  highest  virility,  to  avoid  exposure 
by  reason  of  any  moral  suasion  we  may  bring  to  bear.  Some  cer- 
tainly will  not,  so  we  say  to  them,  'Be  continent,  but  if  you  cannot, 
then  protect  yourself!'    And  we  tell  them  how  to  do  it." 

How  splendid,  how  grandly  noble,  it  must  have  been  to  see 
a  regular  army  physician,  wearing  the  official  professional 
uniform  marked  "U.  S.,"  going,  officially,  at  stated  intervals, 
to  the  officially  "segregated"  houses  of  prostitution  in  Manila 


*  See  Annual  Report  of  the  Secretary  of  War,  1908,  p.  22. 

I  See  Social  Diseases,  p.  24,  March,  1910;  Contents — A  Sym- 
posium concerning  a  phase  of  venereal  diseases,  being  addresses  and 
discussions  at  a  meeting  of  the  American  Society  of  Sanitary  and 
Moral  Prophylaxis,  held  at  the  New  York  Academy  of  Medicine, 
December  9th,  1909.  Address:  Social  Diseases,  9  East  42d  Street, 
New  York.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


PREPARIXG   BOY-SCOIT    HIRED   HANDS. 
(See  sample  of  -finished  product"  of  a  Boy  Scout,  pages"  nl.  ;)3  and. 
especially,  opposite  page  207.) 


I 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  221 

to  officially  examine  the  condition  of  professional  prostitutes, 
and,  having  examined  them,  officially  report  them  "unfit" 
(for  whom?) — or  "fit"  (for  whom?).  How  sublime!  How 
patriotic !  How  lovingly  Christian !  Great  flag-waving,  con- 
stitutional government,  performing  a  noble  function  nobly 
and,  of  course,  constitutionally!  All  in  the  name  of  Christ, 
of  course — for  "This  is  a  Christian  nation" — officially. 

Life  on  board  a  war  vessel  is  unnatural.  So  far  as  social 
and  sex  relations  are  concerned  the  men  are  virtually  kept  in 
solitary  confinement  for  weeks,  even  months,  at  a  time. 
Under  such  'profoundly  unnatural  conditions  human  beings 
behave  unnaturally.  Many  strong  characters  and  all  the  weak 
ones  collapse,  utterly  collapse ;  and  the  wild,  ugly,  worse  than 
brute  monster.  Perverted  Sex  Appetite,  has  a  vile  festival 
weeks  at  a  time,  enticing,  embracing,  befouling,  devouring 
many  of  the  finest  youths  in  the  land. 

It  is  said  to  be  common  knowledge  with  many  who  know 
and  with  many  it  is  a  source  of  horrible  jest — that  under 
such  unnatural  conditions  on  board  a  battleship  men  sexually 
associate  with  men  in  ways  worse  (if  possible)  than  the  most 
degrading  ways  mentioned  (and  cursed)  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. And  when,  after  weeks  or  months  at  sea,  the  war- 
ship touches  at  a  port  for  a  few  days  or  weeks,  there  is  a 
wild  rush  of  unfortunate  boys  for  unfortunate  women  whose 
diseased  condition  is  an  unspeakable  abomination.  And  this 
should  be  known  too:  Certain  Christian  and  un-Christian 
governments'  officials  provide  the  hoys  with  certain  preventive 
chemicals  (as  they  leave  the  ship  for  a  "larh"  on  shore), 
knowing  that  the  boys,  many  of  them,  are  sure  to  be  the  vic- 
tims of  victims  reehing  with  disease. 

And  then  if  the  reader  could  witness  the  "round-up"  the 
night  before  the  ship  sets  out  to  sea  again, — could  see  scores  of 
fine  young  marines,  pride  of  loving  mothers, — if  the  reader 
could  see  them  taken  on  board  dead  drunk  and  horribly  be- 
fouled, taken  on  board  in  wheel  barrows  and  dumped  like 
big  lumps  of  diseased,  drunken,  snoring  and  slobbering  flesh, 
to  be  sobered  up  and  "treated"  when  the  ship  gets  out  to  sea, 
— if  the  reader  could  see  all  this  and  very  much  more,  for 


222  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

example  in  New  York  harbor,  he  would  then  better  under- 
stand why  very  few  of  "our  very  best  people"  of  the  "upper 
class"  are  not  easily  wheedled  into  giving  up  their  own  sons 
to  defend  our  great  and  glorious  country  on  board  a  big  steel 
lighting  machine  called  a  battleship — to  cruise  and  carouse 
around  the  world.  Just  in  proportion  as  the  working  class 
mother  thinks  about  this  matter  her  sons  will  be  safer  from 
the  wheedling  seductions  of  the  recruiting  officer. 

Mothers,  what  is  the  blind  sentiment  that  makes  you  clap 
your  hands  in  admiration  of  the  "great  statesmen"  or  the 
"great  government"  that  has  prostitutes  examined  for  the  sons 
you  bore  and  carefully  reared  and  tenderly  love? 

"Lead  us  not  into  temptation/'  said  Jesus  Christ. 
Yet  a  "civilized"  Christian  government  recently  not 

ONLY  examined,  BUT  PROVIDED  PROSTITUTES  FOR  THE  SOL- 
DIER   BOYS.      The    great    British    Government    within 

RECENT   years    PROVIDED   PROSTITUTES    FOR   HER   SOLDIERS    IN 

India.  Circular  memoranda  were  sent  to  all  the  cantonments 
of  India  by  Quarter-Master  Cxeneral  Chapman,  in  the  name 
of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  of  India  (Lord  Rob- 
erts). Here  are  three  excerpts  from  those  documents  and 
from  official  reports:* 

"In  regimental  bazaars  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  women;  to  take  care  that  they  are  sufficiently  attractive; 
to  provide  them  with  proper  houses,  and  above  all  to  insist  upon 
means  of  ablution  being  always  available  [to  prevent  venereal  dis- 
eases]. ...  If  young  soldiers  are  carefully  advised  in  regard  to  the 
advantages  of  ablution,  and  recognize  that  convenient  arrangements 
exist  in  the  regimental  bazaar  (that  is,  in  the  chacla,  or  brothel), 
they  may  be  expected  to  avoid  the  risks  involved  in  association  with 
women  who  are  not  recognized  [tliat  is,  not  examined  and  licensed] 
by  the  regimental  authorities." 

Another  commanding  officer  writes  in  his  report: 

"Please  send  young  and  attractive  women  as  laid  down  in 
THE  Quaeter-Masteb  Genebal's  cikculak.  No.  21a.  .  .  .  There  are 

NOT  WOMEN  ENOUGH  ;  THEY  ABE  NOT  ATTRACTIVE  ENOUGH.  MORE 
AND   YOUNGER   WOMEN   ARE   REQUIRED.    ...   I   HAVE   ORDERED   THE   NUM- 


*  See  Walter  Walsh:    Moral  Damage  of  War,  pp.  151-52.     Em- 
phasis mine.     G.  R.  K. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  223 

BEE  OF  PROSTITUTES  TO  BE  INCREASED  .  .  .  AND  HAVE  GIVEN  SPECIAL 
INSTRUCTIONS  AS  TO  ADDITIONAL  WOMEN  BEING  YOUNG  AND  OF  AT- 
TRACTIVE   APPEARANCE." 

And  this :  "The  total  number  of  admissions  to  hospital  of 
cases  of  venereal  diseases  amongst  troops  in  India  rose  in 
1895  to  522  per  1,000." 

And  this  from  another  authority  :* 

"In  1902,  in  India,  the  enormous  number  of  12,686  men  were 
admitted  into  hospitals  suffering  from  sexual  diseases  alone;  more 
than  1,000  military  victims  were  always  in  the  hospital — and  the 
report  from  which  these  figures  are  taken  deals  with  the  healthiest 
year  for  20  years  past.  In  the  Home  Army  ...  in  a  single  period 
of  twelve  months,  of  154,000  troops,  there  were  24,176  sexual  com- 
plaint cases — or  one  in  every  six.  In  the  author's  judgment,  80 
per  cent,  of  the  entire  British  Army  in  India,  and  a  proportion 
slightly  smaller  for  the  Home  Army,  have  been  at  some  time 
affected." 

"The  worst  of  war  and  war  service  is  that  the  soldier  is  a 
ruined  man."t 

General  Sherman  has  spoken  on  the  refining  influences  of 
war: 

"Long  after  the  Civil  War,  General  Sherman,  defending  the 
conduct  of  his  troops  in  South  Carolina,  said  to  Carl  Schurz:  'Before 
we  got  out  of  that  state  the  men  had  so  accustomed  themselves 
to  destroying  everything  along  the  line  of  march  that  sometimes, 
when  I  had  my  headquarters  in  a  house,  that  house  began  to  burn 
before  I  was  fairly  out  of  it.  The  truth  is — human  nature  is  human 
nature.  You  take  the  best  lot  of  young  men — all  church  members 
if  you  please — and  put  them  into  an  army  and  let  them  invade  an 
enemy's  country  and  let  them  live  upon  it  for  any  length,  and 
they  will  gradually  lose  all  principle^  and  self-restraint  to  a  degree 
beyond  the  control  of  discipline.  It  has  always  been  so  and  always 
will  be  so.'  "§ 

(12)  An  anonymous  author  writes  thus:|| 

"Real  war  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  painted  image  that 
you  see  at  a  parade  or  review.     But  it  is  the  painted  image  that 


*  Edmondson :   John  Bull's  Army  from  Within. 
I  Elbert  Hubbard:  Health  and  Wealth,  quoted  in  the  New  Age, 
August  5,  1909.     See  Index:    "Venereal  Ehseases." 
t  See  Chapter  Seven,  Section  18. 
%  International  Journal  of  Ethics,  April,   1908. 
Ij  Arbeiter  in  Council,  pp.  38-39. 


224  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

makes  it  popular.  The  waving  plumes,  the  gay  uniforms,  the 
flashing  swords,  the  disciplined  march  of  innumerable  feet,  the 
clear-voiced  trumpet,  the  intoxicating  strains  of  martial  music, 
the  pomp,  the  sound,  and  the  spectacle — these  are  the  incitements 
to  war  and  to  the  profession  of  the  soldier.  They  are  not  what  they 
are.  But  they  still  form  a  popular  prelude  to  a  woeful  pande- 
monium. And  when  war  bursts  out  it  is  at  first,  as  a  rule,  but  a 
small  minority  even  of  the  peoples  engaged  that  really  sees  and  feels 
its  horrors.  The  populace  is  fed  by  excitements;  the  defeats  are 
covered  up;  in  most  countries  the  lists  of  killed  and  wounded  are 
suppressed  or  postponed;  victories  are  magnified;  successful  gen- 
erals are  acclaimed,  and  the  military  hero  becomes  the  idol  of  the 
people.  The  over-fed,  seedy  malingerers  of  a  small  society  join  with 
the  starving  loiterers  about  the  gin  palace  in  applauding  the  exe- 
cution of  ruin.  If  their  heroes  are  successful,  what  are  their 
trophies? — prisons  crowded  with  captives,  hospitals  filled  with  sick 
and  wounded,  towns  sacked,  farms  burnt,  fields  laid  waste,  taxes 
raised,  plenty  converted  to  scarcity  or  famine,  and  vast  debts 
accumulated  for  posterity.  Then  when  these  [military]  heroes  have 
done  their  work,  the  heroes  of  peace  .  .  .  appear,  and  by  long  and 
patient  labor  amid  scenes  of  universal  lamentation  seek  to  mitigate 
the  suflFering  of  their  repentant  fellow-countrymen." 

The  poet  Byron  was  in  a  war  and  described  war  thus: 
"All  the  mind  would  shrink  from  of  excesses ; 
All  the  body  perpetrates  of  bad; 
All  that  we  read,  hear,  dream,  of  man's  distresses ; 
All  that  the  devil  would  do  if  run  stark  mad ; 
All  that  defies  the  worst  which  pen  expresses; 
All  that  by  which  hell  is  peopled,  or  is  sad 
As  hell — mere  mortals  who  their  power  abuse — 
Was  here  (as  heretofore  and  since)  let  loose.  .  .  . 
War's  a  brain-spattering  art."* 

(13)  In  connection  with  the  foregoing  section  12  ex- 
amine Chapter  Seven,  Section  18. 

"War!  War!  War!  .  .  .  God  send  the  women  sleep  in  the  long, 
long  night,  when  the  breasts  on  whose  strength  they  leaned  heave 
no  more."| 

Wives  and  mothers  of  the  working  class,  as  soon  as  the 
government  has  had  your  choicest  sons  slaughtered,  the  gov- 

*  Don  Juan,  VIII.,  IX. 

fE.  C.  Stedman:   "Alice  of  Monmouth." 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   QIBLS.  225 

ernment  is  through  with  you — except  to  send  you  a  miserable, 
blood-stained,  silver  sop,  a  sort  of  cash  bribe,  once  a  quarter. 
Then  as  you  receive  the  vile  cash,  you  can,  in  imagination, 
hear  the  shrieks  of  your  dead  loved  ones.  The  government 
seeks  to  win  your  approval  and  to  silence  your  hearts'  protests 
against  human  butchery  with  the  cheap  jingle  of  some  filthy 
dollars — as  if  you  had  sold  your  sons  and  husbands  for  a 
price.     Such  a  pension  is  a  form  of  hush  money. 

"If  the  stroke  of  war  fell  certain  on  the  guilty  heads,  none 
else  .  .  .  but  alas ! 

That  undistinguishing  and  deathful  storm 

Beats  heaviest  on  the  exposed  and  innocent; 

And  they  that  stir  its  fury,  while  it  raves 

Safe  at  a  distance  send  their  mandates  forth." — Crowe. 

Eobert  G.  Ingersoll  wrote:* 

"Nations  sustain  the  relations  of  savages  to  each 
other.  .  .  . 

"No  man  has  imagination  enough  to  paint  the  agonies,  the 
horrors,  the  cruelties,  of  war.  Think  of  sending  shot  and 
shell  crashing  through  the  bodies  of  men !  Think  of  the 
widows  and  orphans!  Think  of  the  maimed,  the  mutilated, 
the  mangled!  .  .  ." 

Let  the  working  class  mothers  beware  of  crafty  and 
cowardly  politicians  and  business  men  seeking  to  excite  them 
with  the  shallow  cry :  "The  flag !  Our  country !  Our  homes !" 
For  the  mothers'  sake  it  is  worth  the  space  to  restate  the 
fact  here :  That  more  than  half  of  all  the  mothers  in  the 
United  States  have  no  homes  of  their  own  and  must  live  in 
rented  homes,  and  more  than  one-eighth  of  them  live  in 
mortgaged  homes.j  And  vast  numbers  of  the  mothers  in  the 
United  States  live  in  mean,  small  houses  with  scarcely  a 
single  modern  convenience. 

Mothers,  keep  your  eyes  on  the  bankers  and  the  manu- 
facturers and  the  other  "leading  citizens":  they  and  their 
sons  and  sons-in-law  are  not  shedding  a  large  quantity  of 


*  Works,  passim. 

fSee  Census  Report,  1900,  Vol.  2,  p.  CXCII. 


226  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

their  '*l)lue"  blood  for  "our"  country  and  "our''  homes  and 
"our"  flag;  and  they  can  not  be  wheedled  into  doing  so. 
Watch  them  closely,  mothers,  both  before  a  war  and  during  a 
war.  .  Don't  get  excited.  Eemember  Christ's  "Put  up  thy 
sword." 

St.  Paul  said,  "Follow  peace  with  all  men.'* 

You  have  heard  of  this  doctrine :  "Thou  shalt  not  kill." 

"War  has  no  pity,"  said  Schiller. 

"God  is  forgotten  in  war,  and  every  principle  of  Chris- 
tianity is  trampled  under  foot,"  said  Sidney  Smith. 
"To  be  tender-minded 
Does  not  become  a  ?word." — Shakespeare. 

"War  is  one  of  the  greatest  plagues  that  can  afflict  hu- 
manity; it  destroys  religion  ...  it  destroys  families.  Any 
scourge,  in  fact,  is  preferable  to  it.  .  .  .  Cannon  and  fire- 
arms are  cruel  and   damnable  machines." — Martin   Luther. 

The  gentle  and  charming  lover  of  little  children,  Eugene 
Field,  wrote::  "I  hate  wars,  armies,  soldiers,  guns,  and  fire- 
works."* 

"And  he  shall  judge  among  the  nations,  and  he  shall  rebuke 
many  people.  And  they  shall  beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares 
and  their  spears  into  pruning  hooks:  nation  shall  not  lift  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more."f 

James  Russell  Lowell  :$ 

"The    laborin'    man    and    laborin'    woman 

Have  one  glory  and  one  shame; 
Ev'y   thin'   thet's  done  inhuman 

Ingers  all  on  'em  the  same." 

And  Tolstoi  thus:§ 

"Every  war — even  the  briefest — with  its  accompaniment  of 
ruinous  expenses,  destruction  of  harvests,  thefts,  plunder,  murders, 
and  unchecked  debauchery,  with  the  false  justifications  of  its  ne- 
cessity and  justice,  the  glorification  and  praise  of  military  exploits, 
of  patriotism  and  devotion  to  the  flag,  with  the  pretense  of  care 


*  Autobiographical  Note. 

t  Isaiah :   Chapter  II.,  par.  4. 

t"Biglow  Papers." 

§  The  Kingdom  of  God. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  227 

for  the  wounded,  etc., — will,  in  one  year,  demoralize  men  incom- 
parably more  than  thousands  of  thefts,  arsons  and  murders  com- 
mitted in  the  course  of  centuries  by  individual  men  under  the  in- 
fluence of  passion." 

Let  the  women's  literary  clubs  and  circles,  many  of  them 
devotees  of  John  Ruskin,  consider  the  following  lines  from 
his  pen:* 

"But  Occult  Theft— Theft  which  hides  itself  even  from  itself, 
and  is  legal,  respectable,  and  cowardly, — corrupts  the  body  and  soul 
of  man,  and  to  the  last  fibre  of  them.  And  the  guilty  thieves  of 
Europe,  the  real  sources  of  all  deadly  war  in  it,  are  the  Capitalists, 
— that  is  to  say,  those  who  live  by  percentages  on  the  labor  of 
others. — The  Real  war  in  Europe — is  between  these  thieves  and 
the  workman,  such  as  these  thieves  have  made  him.  They  have  kept 
him  poor,  ignorant,  and  sinful,  that  they  might  without  his  knowl- 
edge gather  for  themselves  the  produce  of  his  toil.  At  last  a  dim 
insight  into  the  fact  of  this  begins  to  dawn  upon  him." 

As  to  thieves:  Think  of  stealing  several  years  of  a  man's 
life  when  he  is  in  the  prime  of  young  manhood,  by  tearing 
him  from  his  own  friends  and  loved  ones,  forcing  a  rifle  into 
his  hands,  and  compelling  him  for  years  to  learn  the  vile 
science  and  art  of  human  butchery.  Thus  are  the  best  years 
of  millions  of  the  choicest  young  men  in  Europe  stolen — 
stolen  by  a  class, — a  class  of  prominent  kidnappers,  industrial 
and  political  thieves,  "leading  citizens"  hypocritically  wear- 
ing a  mask  called  "Patriotism."  Think  of  many  millions  thus 
stolen — stolen  from  their  parents,  stolen  from  their  brothers 
and  sisters,  stolen  from  their  wives  and  children. 

When  the  working  class  think  about  war  and  see  the  vast 
theft  of  their  lives  they  will  astound  the  world  with  their 
protest. 

And  the  mothers  will  take  part  in  this  protest. 

(14)  Didn't  Christ  say  in  substance:  "I  came  not  to 
send  peace,  but  a  sword?" 

Yes.  At  least  that  is  what  some  of  the  gentle  Christ's 
followers  are  said  to  have  reported  that  they  heard  he  had 
been  reported  to  have  been  heard  to  say.    And  it  is  true,  too, 


"Quoted  by  John  A.  Hobson:   John  Ruskin — Social  Reformer, 
p.  346.     Italics  mine  except  for  "The  Real  War."     G.  R.  K. 


228  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

that  tyrants,  hypocritically  mumbling  interpolated  malig- 
nance ascribed  to  Christ,  draw  the  sword  to  combat  the 
brotherhood  of  man — as,  doubtless,  Christ  expected  they 
would  do.  But  it  is  worse  than  blasphemous  nonsense  to 
teach  children — young  or  old — that  Christ,  the  Great  Lover 
of  Mankind,  was  a  cheap  Jingoist,  recommended  the  sword 
and  counseled  wholesale  butchery  of  brothers  by  brothers. 
The  distinguished  intellectual  prostitutes  who  argue  Christ 
into  the  same  butchers'  list  with  Alexander,  Caesar,  Napoleon 
and  the  Tough  Rider,  are  pridelessly  down  on  their  faces  in 
the  dust  cringing  before  their  industrial  masters;  they  are 
simply  betrajdng  Christ  again  for  "thirty  pieces"  of  blood- 
stained silver  called  salaries.* 

Christ,  according  to  the  reports,  also  said:  "Blessed  are 
the  peacemakers:  for  they  shall  be  called  the  children  of 
God."  Also :  "Ye  have  heard  it  hath  been  said :  'An  eye  for 
an  eye,  and  a  tooth  for  a  tooth' ;  but  I  say  unto  you :  'That  ye 
resist  not  evil.'"  And  this:  "They  that  take  up  the  sword, 
shall  by  the  sword  perish." 

And  this  on  authority :  "Thou  shalt  not  steal." 

One  of  the  most  eminent  bishops  in  the  United  States 
went,  in  the  winter  of  1907-8,  before  a  Congressional  Com- 
mittee and  argued  eloquently  for  a  large  cash  donation  from 
Congress  for  a  certain  "boys'  academy"  managed  by  his 
church.  His  chief  argument  was  that  the  little  fellows  "are 
carefully  trained  in  the  use  of  arms  and  would  be  ready  for 
use  in  case  of  trouble." 

Many  schools  thus  prepare  boys  to  murder  hungry  work- 
ing men  who  are  out  on  strike  for  a  few  pennies  a  day  to  feed 
their  families — which  is  a  "case  of  trouble."  Now  imagine 
Christ  training  tender  boys  for  human  butchery  and  teasing 
the  brutal  government  of  his  time  for  cash  with  which  to 
buy  spears  and  swords  for  the  children! 

"There  is  a  powerful  section  of  the  Christian  church 
which  teaches  its  entire  membership  that  the  Church  has  a 


See  Index:  "Christ." 


MOTHER.  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  229 

right  to  exempt  them — the  clergy — from  the  usual  duties  of 
citizenship,  and  especially  from  military  duty."* 

Now,  it  does  not  matter  what  church  we  may  or  may  not 
be  members  of,  all  the  men  and  all  the  women  of  the  work- 
ing class — in  all  the  churches  and  out  of  the  churches — should 
band  together  in  a  world-wide  fellowship  and  effort  of  the 
working  class  to  drive  war  from  the  world  and  thus  protect 
the  helpless  women  and  children.  Eemember,  mothers,  it  is 
not  fair  that  your  husbands  and  sons  should  be  torn  from 
your  homes,  have  cruel  rifles  thrust  into  their  hands,  and  be 
forced  into  a  war  where  they  may  be  destroyed, — and  you 
be  thus  widowed  and  your  younger  children  be  left  father- 
less; and,  at  the  same  time,  the  minister  who  by  prayer  and 
public  speech  exerted  powerful  influence  to  bring  about  the 
war,— that  he  should  be  exempted  from  the  horrors  of  the 
battlefield,  the  horrors  up  close,  where  human  blood  and 
brains  are  pounded  into  the  mud  by  cannon  balls  and  the 
hoofs  of  horses.  Remember,  too,  that  tens  of  thousands  of 
ministers  have  no  wives  and  no  children  to  be  desolated.  Does 
it  not  seem  rather  that  these  wifeless,  childless  men  who 
want  war  should  themselves  go  to  the  war  instead  of  having 
your  lovers  go? 

It  should  be  repeated: 

No  MATTER  WHAT  DENOMINATION  THEY  BELONG  TO, 
THOSE  MEN  WHO  PRAY  FOR  WAR  OR  PRAY  FOR  VICTORIES  IN 
WAR,  OR  HELP  TRAIN  BOYS  FOR  WAR — THOSE  MEN  SHOULD  GO 
AND  FIGHT  THE  WAR. 

If  a  WAR  IS  GOOD  ENOUGH  TO  PRAY  FOR  IT  IS  GOOD  ENOUGH 

TO  GO  TO.    Those  who  want  ""great  victories"  should  be 

FORCED  to  go  AFTER  THEM,  RIGHT  UP  TO  THE  FRONT  TOO, 
where  cannon  shells  burst  STRIKING  HUNDREDS  WITH 
DEATH — UP  TO  THE  FRONT,  INTO  "hELL's  HURRICANES." 

How  does  this  matter  seem  to  you,  mother?  Won't  you 
think  it  over  and  bring  up  the  subject  for  friendly  and  earnest 
discussion  in  your  community?  Why  not  urge  all  women 
everywhere  to  take  up  this  subject — and  thus  chain  the  atten- 


See  The  World  To-Day,  p.  956,  Sept.,  1905. 


230  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Hon  of  society  to  this  subject  of  the  degradation  and  slaugh- 
ter of  the  men  you  love'? 

(15)  In  The  Westminster  Review  of  July,  1907,  is  the 
following  suggestion  of  a  topic  suitable  for  discussion  in 
women's  societies  and  newspapers : 

"There  is  another  insidious  form  of  Militarism  that  is  very 
widespread  and  popular.  I  refer  to  the  Lads'  Brigades  [in  England] 
which  are  attached  to  so  many  churches  of  different  denominations. 
Under  pretext  of  giving  them  physical  training,  boys  are  taught 
the  spirit  of  submission  to  another's  will,  and  to  love  the  trappings 
of  Militarism.  .  .  .  This  coupling  together  of  military  training  with 
religion  has  been  well  described  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Aked  of  Liver- 
pool [now  of  New  York],  as  'prea<;hing  heaven  and  practicing  hell.'" 

The  American  mother  can  not  solace  herself  with  the 
thought  that  what  Dr.  Aked  referred  to  was  a  practice  in  far- 
away England  and  does  not  much  concern  her.  For  this  new 
crucifixion  of  Jesus  and  the  degradation  of  the  little  boys, 
a  strong  society  exists  in  the  United  States.  The  United 
Boys'  Brigade  is  an  organization  for  training  the  trigger- 
fingers  and  the  blood-lusts  of  boys  nine  years  and  upward  in 
the  basement  rooms  of  Christian  churches.  "The  object  of 
the  organization,"  as  announced  in  the  monthly  magazine  of 
the  organization.  The  American  Brigadier,  is  "to  .  .  .  pro- 
mote reverence  and  discipline  ...  to  create  in  them  a  love 
for  their  country  .  .  .  and  while  the  boys  are  thoroughly 
drilled  in  military  discipline  and  tactics,  it  only  serves  to 
make  them  true  Christian  soldiers*  The  American  Brigadier 
announces  officially  that  "there  is  nothing  equal  to  it  in 
drawing  them  into  the  Sabbath  School."  Thus  the  church 
is  to  be  made  like  a  prize-fighting  ring  in  order  to  make  it 
look  good  to  the  little  boys.  The  Amencan  Brigadier,  of 
December,  1907,  gives  away  its  secret  in  a  lengthy  account, 
headed,  "Securing  a  New  Recruit,"  as  follows: 

(One  boy  says  to  another)  :  "We  go  to  Bible  drill  every  Satur- 
day night  and  have  setting-up  exercises  and  Bible  drill,  and  some- 
times we  visit  other  companies.  Gee!  but  our  company  can  show 
them  how  to  drill.     And  we  go  camping  in  summer,  and  we  have  a 


Italics  mine.       G.  R.  K. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND   GIRLS.  231 

bully  time.  .  .  .  Bible  drill?  .  .  .  Gee!  but  there  are  some  bully 
stories  in  the  Bible.  .  .  .  We  read  about  Samson,  the  strong  man 
that  beat  Sandow  all  hollow,  and  King  David,  the  siege  of  Jericho, 
and  last  week  we  read  about  a  shepherd  boy  killing  a  giant  with  a 
sling-shot.  .  .  ." 

In  The  Brigadier  of  November,  1907,  is  an  article,  "What 
it  Means  to  be  a  Soldier,"  in  which  is  the  following : 

"There  is  but  one  word  that  covers  all,  and  that  is  obedience: 
obedience  to  orders  and  strict  discipline.  The  foundation  of  all 
military  organizations  rests  upon  this  one  basis." 

Precisely :  obedience. 

That  is  to  say,  an  innocent  little  fellow  who  has  been 
drilled  thus  for  several  years  to  forget  that  he  has  a  brain  and 
a  will  of  his  own,  drilled  to  obey  all  orders  instantly — -such  a 
boy  at  the  age  of  twenty  will,  of  course,  automatiadly  and 
stupidly  obey  any  order — no  matter  how  vile — even  the  order: 
"Fire!  Charge!" — though  "the  enemy,"  the  target,  be  little 
silk-mill  wage-slave  girls  ten  or  twelve  years  old  who  must 
toil  a  whole  week  for  $1.60,  and  are  out  on  strike  for  a  dime 
more  per  week,  and  while  out  on  strike  are  starved  into  being 
"riotous." 

Armed  rowdies — with  riot  guns — for  starving,  "rioting" 
children ! 

The  American  Brigadier  is  primarily  a  religious  maga- 
zine, so  they  say;  but  it  offers  a  breech-loading  Springfield 
rifle  as  a  premium  to  the  boy  who  will  send  in  the  most  sub- 
scribers. Imagine  Christ  making  his  cause  popular  with 
little  boys  by  offering  them  a  weapon  Avith  which  to  murder! 
The  Brigadier  wins  the  boys  to  Jesus  by  seductively  baiting 
the  savage  that  still  lurks  in  the  "civilized"  breast;  the  maga- 
zine gives  pictures  of  armories,  battle  monuments,  gun  drills, 
military  parades,  camp  life,  gay  military  uniforms,  little  boys 
with  guns,  swords,  tents,  banners,  cannon,  pictures  also  of 
pompous-looking,  gilt-braided  "big  men,"  famous  professional 
human  butchers.  The  magazine  prints  alluring  stories  of 
army-and-navy  life ;  and  makes  a  specialty  of  advertising  mili- 
tary arms,  military  clothing,  West  Point  story  books,  and 
so  forth. 


232  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

This  organization  works  in  and  tlirough  the  church.  It 
is  strong  and  is  gaining  ground.  It  boasts  of  having  branches 
in  many  states.  In  the  "City  of  Churches,"  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
the  society  is  specially  strong.  Much  of  the  military  drill 
work  is  done  openly  in  the  streets,  when  the  weather  per- 
mits. Many  pastors,  "in  the  name  of  Jesus,"  of  course,  are 
energetically — and  patriotically — hustling  for  the  movement, 
some  of  them  proudly  (and  craftily)  having  their  pictures 
taken  with  the  training  companies.  The  pastors'  poses  in 
these  pictures  make  the  pastors  look  like  valuable  assets  to 
the  capitalists  of  their  churches,  but  the  poses  somehow  do 
not  suggest  the  quiet  and  gentle  Jesus.  "Put  up  thy  sword" 
is  out  of  date  with  these  kerosened  procurers  political.* 

There  are  many  thousands  of  innocent  little  church  boys 
thus  in  training.  October  5,  1907,  twenty-five  hundred  of 
these  little  fellows  marched  on  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York 
City,  carrying  guns  and  swords,  four  of  the  betrayed  children 
dragging  a  light  cannon. 

The  Federal  Government  at  Washington,  by  a  "judicious 
mingling"  of  winks  and  smiles,  is  heartily  encouraging  this 
"Christian  soldier"  enterprise.  Says  the  Commander-in- 
Chief,  H.  B.  Pope,  in  his  Eeport  rf 

"In  general  ...  it  can  be  said  that  in  the  quarters  where  we 
have  desired  to  obtain  recognition,  our  influence  is  greater,  and  the 
respect  tendered  to  us  is  much  more  cordial  than  ever  before.  Our 
own  Government  has  paid  special  attention  in  several  directions 
to  the  work  of  this  organization  .  .  .  and  our  development  [is] 
carefully  followed  by  those  highest  in  authority,  who  appreciate  the 
possibilities  of  the  splendid  soldiery  which  the  organization  is  mak- 
ing, should  the  necessity  ever  arise  when  this  body  might  be  needed 
[in  a  strike  for  example].  .  .  .  Drill  should  never  be  allowed  to 
take  the  place  of  religious  exercises.  At  the  same  time  a  judicious 
mingling  of  both  constitutes  means  through  which  we  can  obtain 
highest  results." 

And  the  following  is  from  a  report  on  a  meeting  of  the 
organization  held  in  Calvary  Methodist  Episcopal  Church, 
New  York  City,  May  13,  1907 : 


*  See  Chapters  Nine  and  Eleven. 

■f  American  Brigadier,  November,  1907. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND  GIRLS.  233 

"There  were  also  present  a  number  of  Army  Officers,  National 
Guard  officers  and  veterans  of  the  Civil  War.  .  ,  .  The  Church  was 
beautifully  decorated  with  flags.  .  .  .  General  Campbell  presided  and 
presented  messages  of  good  will  and  good  wishes  from  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  from  Colonel  Fred  Grant  .  .  .  and  from  many 
other  influential  men." 

How  interestingly  consistent — "Good  will  and  good 
wishes"  from  the  presidential  chairman  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee of  the  capitalist  class  in  America ;  that  is,  the  National 
Government, — "good  will  and  good  wishes"  to  the  seducers  of 
small  boys  to  serve  as  fist  and  tusk  for  the  ruling  class. 

The  "Boy  Scout"  movement  is  the  latest  manifestation  of 
this  christened  and  kerosened  cunning  to  seduce  the  innocent 
small  boys  for  the  blood-and-iron  embrace  of  Mars  and 
Mammon.  Mothers,  take  notice.  Be  warned.  Defend  your- 
selves. 

President  Roosevelt  (international  mentor)  also  furnished 
bewildering  flattery  to  the  boys  themselves  who  show  skill  in 
the  use  of  the  deadly  rifle.  The  Philadelphia  Public  Ledger, 
and  many  other  newspapers  about  the  same  date,  July  16, 
1907,  printed  the  following  cunning  letter  written  by  Presi- 
dent Roosevelt  to  a  Brooklyn  school  boy.  The  news  item 
with  the  letter  runs  thus: 

"Oyster  Bay,  July  17.  President  Roosevelt  has  put  his  hearty 
approval  on  public  school  rifle  practice.  In  a  letter  of  congratula- 
tion to  Ambrose  Scharfenberg,  of  Brooklyn,  winner  of  the  shooting 
trophy  of  the  Public  School  Athletic  League,  he  takes  occasion  to 
encourage  the  system  of  rifle  practice  inaugurated  by  General  George 
B.  Wingate,  retired. 

"That  the  letter  to  young  Scharfenberg  may  have  as  far-reach- 
ing influence  as  possible,  it  was  made  public  at  the  President's  di- 
rection today.     It  is  as  follows: 

"'My  Dear  Young  Friend: — I  heartily  congratulate  you  upon 
being  declared  by  the  Public  School  Athletic  League  to  stand  first 
in  rifle  shooting  among  all  the  boys  of  the  High  Schools  of  New 
York  City  who  have  tried  during  the  last  year.  Many  a  grown 
man  who  regards  himself  as  a  crack  rifle  shot  would  be  proud 
of  such  a  score.  Your  skill  is  a  credit  to  you,  and  also  to  your 
principal,  your  teachers,  and  to  all  connected  with  the  manual 
training  school  which  you  attend,  and  I  know  them  all.  [The  usual 
diffident  confession  of  omniscience.] 

"  'Practice  in  rifle   shooting  is   of  value   in   developing  not  only 


234  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

muscles,  but  nerves.  ...  It  is  a  prime  necessity  that  the  volunteer 
should  already  know  how  to  shoot.  .  .  .  The  graduates  from  our 
schools  and  colleges  should  be  thus  trained  so  as  to  be  good 
shots  with  the  military  rifle.  When  so  trained  they  constitute  a 
great  addition  to  our  national  strength  and  great  assurance  for 
the  peace  of  the  country.' " 

That  is  to  say:  Tho'  the  capitalists  should  refuse  to 
employ  5,000,000  men  and  virtually  spit  in  their  faces  and 
order  these  willing-to-work  men  out  of  the  factories  and 
mines  to  shiver  and  starve  in  rags,  and  thus  infinitely  humil- 
iate millions  of  working  class  wives  and  daughters  with  the 
terrors  of  poverty — no  matter,  the  rifle-practiced  graduates 
of  high  schools,  colleges  and  universities  will  be  "ready  for 
use,"  ready  to  crush  the  unemployed  if  they  loudly  protest, 
ready  to  help  the  master  class  thrust  all  the  injustices  of  a 
class-lahoT  system  into  the  lives  of  the  working  class,  ready 
to  thrust  bayonets  into  the  out-of-work  wage-slaves  who  cry 
aloud  for  work,  for  bread,  for  justice  in  the  industrial  civil 
war  of  capitalism. 

Bright  and  early  every  school  day,  in  New  York  City, 
about  600,000  children  are  compelled  to  salute  the  flag  and 
recite  some  mocking  lies  about  the  "glorious  freedom  they 
have"  and  the  "bounteous  blessings  they  enjoy" — under  the 
"friendly  folds  of  the  Stars  and  Stripes" — tho'  a  whole  half 
million  of  the  children  have  no  liomes  of  their  own  and  in  a 
hundred  ways  are  stung  with  the  lash  of  poverty. 

»  (17)  Many  additional  instructors  in  military  tactics  have 
in  recent  years  been  appointed  to  service  in  high  schools, 
colleges  and  universities.  United  States  Army  officers  are 
now  in  ninety-three  universities,  colleges  and  schools,  drilling 
22,910  students  in  "military  departments." 

Improved  rifles,  riot  cartridges,  and  killing  equipment 
are  being  distributed  among  the  State  militia  forces;  local 
armories  are  being  improved  and  made  attractive, — all  made 
"ready  for  use"  when  needed  to  pacify  the  out-of-work  wage- 
earners.  Recently  in  one  State,  Colorado,  military  training 
was  being  systematically  taught  in  the  high  schools  of  six  of 
the  largest  cities.     The  Secretary  of  War  in  1909  reported 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND  OIRLS.  286 

forty-four  schoolboy  rifle  clubs.  In  the  newspapers  and  maga- 
zines, in  the  sermons  and  speeches  and  especially  in  the 
public  school, — by  all  such  means — the  size  and  perfection 
of  rifles,  cannon,  battleships  and  the  like,  are  held  up  to  the 
children  for  their  admiration  and  as  evidences  of  our  superi- 
ority and  of  our  "splendid  civilization."  The  children  are 
taught  to  clap  their  hands  for  our  readiness  to  engage  in 
some  great  international  butchering  contest.  But  the  chil- 
dren are  not  taught  what  arsenals,  armories,  cannon,  rifles, 
soldiers,  militia,  riot  guns  and  riot  cartridges — what  all  these 
things  mean  and  what  war  means  for  the  worTcing  class. 
Never ! 

(18)  Let  a  philosopher  speak  to  the  mother  and  her 
children  in  plain  language: 

"Europe  is  still  in  arms:  each  nation  watching  every  other 
with  suspicion,  jealousy,  or  menace.  .  .  ,  And  what  is  the  result? 
Russia  overwhelmed  with  a  military  cancer,  a  prey  to  social  con- 
fusion such  as  has  not  been  seen  in  this  century.  Germany,  with 
her  intelligence  and  industry,  bound  in  the  fetters  of  military 
service,  governed  as  if  she  were  a  camp,  as  if  the  sole  object  of 
peace  were  to  prepare  for  war.  France  staggering.  .  .  .  Italy 
weighted  with  a  useless  army,  uneasy,  intriguing,  restless.  .  .  . 
Spain  weak  from  the  drain  of  a  series  of  wars.  .  .  .  England  un- 
certain, divided  in  action,  continually  distracted  and  dishonored  by  an 
endless  succession  of  miserable  wars  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 

"Such  is  the  picture  of  Europe  after  a  generation  of  imperial- 
ism and  aggressive  war. 

"Who  is  the  gainer?  Is  the  poor  Ruesian  moujic,  torn  from 
his  home  to  die  in  Central  Asia  or  on  the  passes  of  the  Balkans, 
doomed  to  a  government  of  ever  deepening  corruption  and  tyranny? 
Is  the  workman  of  Berlin  the  better,  crushed  by  military  op- 
pression and  industrial  recklessness?  Who  is  the  gainer — the  ruler 
or  the  ruled?  Is  the  French  peasant  the  gainer  now  that  Alsace 
and  Lorraine  are  gone,  and  nothing  exists  of  the  empire  but  its 
debt,  its  conspirators,  and  its  legacy  of  confusions? 

".  .  .  Who  is  the  gainer  by  this  career  of  bloodshed  and  ambi- 
tion? .  .  .  We  hear  the  groans  of  the  millions — the  working,  suf- 
fering millions — who  are  yearning  to  replace  this  cruel  system, 
none  of  their  making,  none  of  their  choice,  by  which  they  gain 
nothing,   from  which  they   hope   nothing."* 

•Frederic  Harrison:  National  and  Social  Problems,  pp.  237-40. 
Written  in  1880. 


236  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Who  indeed  is  the  gainer?  The  workers  lose;  and  the 
mothers  lose  most  of  all — their  children.  Yet  everywhere 
complete  contempt  for  the  working  class  mothers  of  the 
whole  world,  absolute  scorn  for  the  blood  of  men  and  the 
tears  of  women — of  the  working  class. 

What  magnificent  protest  will  roll  round  this  world  when 
the  working  class  is  roused  to  think  of  these  things ! 

(19)  In  the  dollar-hunting  spirit  of  the  age  it  may  be 
inquired:  Doesn't  war  make  business  brisk,  and  thus  furnish 
work  for  the  wage-earners  ? 

Yes,  certainly.  But  so  also  would  a  lunatic  in  the  streets 
armed  with  a  repeating  shotgun  shooting  down  the  children 
at  play:  he  would  make  business  brisk  for  the  coffin  trust, 
the  undertakers  and  their  employees — and  the  grave-digger. 

(20)  Following  are  several  special  suggestions  for  the 
mothers  and  fathers  of  the  working  class: 

(1)  Teach  the  children  anti-war  recitations  and  decla- 
mations. 

Faithfully  and  patiently  help  the  boys  and  girls  master 
a  half  dozen  or  more  passages  of  the  strongest  prose  and 
poetry  to  be  found  against  war;  help  them  in  this  work  till 
they  understand — till  their  eyes  kindle,  till  their  hearts  burn, 
till  their  imagination  is  aflame  with  disgust  and  detestation 
for  war  and  for  the  foul  role  of  the  armed  guard  of  the 
ruling  class.     (See  page  350,  last  two  lines,) 

(2)  Teach  the  children  the  pledge  on  the  first  page  of 
Chapter  One  of  the  present  volume.  Teach  them  to  teach 
that  pledge,  or  some  similar  pledge,  to  other  children. 

(3)  Teach  the  boys  and  girls  the  historical  origin  of  the 
working  class.     (See  Chapter  Eleven.) 

(4)  Explain  to  the  boys  and  girls,  page  by  page,  all  of 
Chapter  Ten,  and  urge  them  to  explain  the  matter  to  other 
children. 

(5)  Patiently  and  clearly  explain  the  meaning  and  the 
purpose  of  the  local  militia  and  the  army. 

(6)  Interest  the  children  in  a  circulating  anti-war  li- 
brary, and  co-operate  with  them  in  promoting  the  enterprise. 

(7)  A  Ten-Dollar  Cash  Prize  for  the  best  definition  of 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND  GIRLS.  237 

a  militiaman  who  is  willing  to  shoot  the  fathers  and  brothers 
of  the  little  working  class  children  of  his  neighborhood  when 
those  fathers  and  brothers  are  on  strike  struggling  to 
better  the  condition  of  the  mothers  and  the  children — such  a 
prize  contest  would  induce  a  great  amount  of  helpful  thought- 
fulness  and  discussion. 

(8)  Further  suggestions  will  be  found  at  the  opening 
of  Chapter  Twelve.     See  also  Index:  "Suggestions." 

(21)  Following  are  several  passages  suitable  for  chil- 
dren as  declamations.     Also  see  Index,  "Declamations." 

(A)  The  Soldier's  Creed:* 

"Captain,  what  do  you   think,"  I   asked, 

"Of  the  part  your  soldiers  play?" 
But  the  captain  answered,  "I  do  not  think; 

"I   do   not  think,   I    obey!" 

"Do  you  think  you  should  shoot  a  patriot  down, 

"Or  help  a  tyrant  slay?" 
But  the  captain  answered,  "I  do  not  think; 

"I   do   not  think,   I   obey!" 

"Do  you  think  your  conscience  was  made  to  die, 

"And  your  brain  to  rot  away?" 
But  the  captain  answered,  "I  do  not  think; 

"I   do   not   think,   I   obey!" 

"Then    if    this    is    your    soldier's    creed,"    I    cried, 

"You're  a  mean  uiunanly  crew; 
"And  for  all  your  feathers  and  gilt  and  braid, 

"I    am   more    of   a   man   than   you! 

"For  whatever  my  place  in   life  may  be, 

"And  whether  I   swim  or   sink, 
"I  can  say  with  pride,  'I  do  not  obey; 

"'I  do  not  obey,  I  think F" 

(B)  Robert  G.  Ingersoll's  Musings  at  the  Tomb  of 
Napoleon  :t 

"A  little  while  ago  I  stood  by  the  grave  of  the  old  Na- 


*  Ernest  Crosby :  Stcords  and  Ploughshares.  Published  by 
Funk  and  Wagnalls,  New  York. 

■}■  See  Prose-Poems  and  Selections  from  the  Writings  and  Say- 
ings of  Robert  G.  Ingersoll.     Published  by  C.  P.  Farrell,  New  York. 


238  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

poleon — a  magnificent  tomb  of  gilt  and  gold,  fit  almost  for 
a  deity  dead — and  gazed  upon  the  sarcophagus  of  rare  and 
nameless  marble,  where  rest  at  last  the  ashes  of  that  restless 
man.  I  leaned  over  the  balustrade  and  thought  about  the 
career  of  the  greatest  soldier  of  the  modern  world. 

"I  saw  him  walking  upon  the  banks  of  the  Seine,  con- 
templating suicide.  I  saw  him  at  Toulon — I  saw  him  putting 
down  the  mob  in  the  streets  of  Paris — I  saw  him  at  the  head 
of  the  army  of  Italy — I  saw  him  crossing  the  bridge  of  Lodi 
with  the  tricolor  in  his  hand — I  saw  him  in  Egypt  in  the 
shadows  of  the  pyramids — I  saw  him  conquer  the  Alps  and 
mingle  the  eagles  of  France  with  the  eagles  of  the  crags.  I 
saw  him  at  Marengo — at  Ulm  and  Austerlitz.  I  saw  him  in 
Russia,  where  the  infantry  of  the  snow  and  the  cavalry  of  the 
wild  blast  scattered  his  legions  like  winter's  withered  leaves. 
I  saw  him  at  Leipsic  in  defeat  and  disaster — driven  by  a 
million  bayonets  back  upon  Paris — clutched  like  a  wild  beast 
— banished  to  Elba.  I  saw  him  escape  and  retake  an  empire 
by  the  force  of  his  genius.  I  saw  him  upon  the  frightful 
field  of  Waterloo,  where  Chance  and  Fate  combined  to  wreck 
the  fortunes  of  their  former  king.  And  I  saw  him  at  St. 
Helena,  with  his  hands  crossed  behind  him,  gazing  out  upon 
the  sad  and  solemn  sea. 

"I  thought  of  the  orphans  and  widows  he  had  made — of 
the  tears  that  had  been  shed  for  his  glory,  and  of  the  only 
woman  who  had  ever  loved  him,  pushed  from  his  heart  by  the 
cold  hand  of  ambition.  And  I  said,  I  would  rather  have  been 
a  French  peasant  and  worn  wooden  shoes.  I  would  rather 
have  lived  in  a  hut  with  a  vine  growing  over  the  door,  and 
the  grapes  growing  purple  in  the  amorous  kisses  of  the 
autumn  sun.  I  would  rather  have  been  that  poor  peasant, 
with  my  loving  wife  by  my  side,  knitting  as  the  day  died  out 
of  the  sky — with  my  children  upon  my  knee  and  their  arms 
about  me — I  would  rather  have  been  that  man,  and  gone 
down  to  the  tongueless  silence  of  the  dreamless  dust,  than 
to  have  been  that  imperial  impersonation  of  force  and  mur- 
der, known  as  Napoleon  the  Great." 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND  GIRLS.  239 

(C)  Victor  Hugo's  Reflections  on  War:* 

"The  antique  violence  of  the  few  against  all,  called  right 
divine,  is  nearing  its  end.  ...  A  stammering,  which  tomorrow 
will  be  speech,  and  the  day  after  tomorrow  a  gospel,  proceeds  from 
the  bruised  lips  of  the  serf,  of  the  vassal,  of  the  laboring  man, 
of  the  pariah.  The  gag  is  breaking  between  the  teeth  of  the 
human  race.  The  patient  human  race  has  had  enough  of  the  path 
of  sorrow,  and  refuses  to  go  farther.  .  .  .  Glory  advertised  by  drum- 
beats is  met  with  a  shrug  of  the  shoulder.  These  sonorous  lieroes 
have,  up  to  the  present  day,  deafened  human  reason,  which  be- 
gins to  be  fatigued  by  this  majestic  uproar.  Reason  stops  eyes 
and  ears  before  those  authorized  butcheries  called  battles.  The 
sublime  cut-throats  have  had  their  day.  .  .  .  Humanity,  having 
grown  older,  asks  to  be  relieved  of  them.  The  cannon's  prey  has 
begun  to  think,  and,  thinking  twice,  loses  its  admiration  for  being 
made  a  target." 


"Whoever  says  today,  'might  makes  right,'  performs  an  act 
of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  speaks  to  men  a  hundred  years  behind  their 
times.  Gentlemen,  the  nineteenth  century  glorifies  the  eighteenth 
century.  The  eighteenth  proposed,  the  nineteenth  concludes.  And 
my  last  word  shall  be  a  declaration,  tranquil  but  inflexible,  of 
progress. 

"The  time  has  come.  Right  has  found  its  formula: — human 
federation. 

"Today  force  is  called  violence,  and  begins  to  be  judged;  war 
is  arraigned.  Civilization,  upon  the  complaint  of  the  human  race, 
orders  the  trial,  and  draws  up  the  great  criminal  indictment  of 
conquerors  and  captains.  The  Witness,  History,  is  summoned.  The 
reality  appears.  The  fictitious  brilliancy  is  dissipated.  In  many 
cases,  the  hero  is  a  species  of  assassin.  The  people  begin  to  com- 
prehend that  increasing  the  magnitude  of  a  crime  can  not  be  its 
diminution;  that,  if  to  kill  is  a  crime,  to  kill  much  can  not  be  an 
extenuating  circumstance;  that  if  to  steal  is  a  shame,  to  invade 
can  not  be  a  glory;  that  Te  Deums  do  not  count  for  much  in  this 
matter;    that  homicide  is  homicide;   that  blood-shed  is  blood-shed; 


*See  William  Shakespeare,  Part  Third,  Book  III;  M.  B. 
Anderson's  Translation.  Published  by  A.  C.  McClurg  and  Company, 
Chicago;  and  An  Oration  on  Voltaire,  delivered  in  Paris,  May  30, 
1878.  It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  the  orator  was  repeatedly  ap- 
plauded while  delivering  the  oration,  and  at  the  close  the  entire 
audience  rose  and  wildly  cheered.  In  the  declamation,  as  here 
arranged  in  two  parts  (to  be  given  together,  if  desired),  the  ex- 
cerpt  from   the   oration   begins,   "Whoever   says   today." 


240  WAR— WHAT   FOR? 

that  it  serves  nothing  to  call  one's  self  Caesar  or  Napoleon;  and 
that  in  the  eyes  of  the  eternal  God,  the  figure  of  a  murderer  is 
not  clianged  because,  instead  of  a  gallow's  cap,  there  is  placed  upon 
the  head  an  Emperor's  crown. 

"Ah!  let  us  proclaim  absolute  truths.  Let  us  dishonor  war. 
No;  glorious  war  does  not  exist.  No;  it  is  not  good,  and  it  ia 
not  useful,  to  make  corpses.  No;  it  can  not  be  that  life  travails 
for  death.  No;  O,  mothers  who  surround  me,  it  can  not  be  that 
war,  the  robber,  should  continue  to  take  from  you  your  children. 
No;  it  can  not  be  that  women  should  bear  children  in  pain,  that 
men  should  be  born,  that  people  should  plow  and  sow,  that  the 
farmer  should  fertilize  the  fields,  and  the  workmen  enrich  the  city, 
that  industry  should  produce  marvels,  that  genius  should  produce 
prodigies,  that  the  vast  human  activity  should,  in  the  presence 
of  the  starry  sky,  multiply  efforts  and  creations,  all  to  result  in 
that  frightful  international  exposition  called  war." 

(D)  Ingersoll's  Vision  of  War  :* 

"The  past  rises  before  me  like  a  dream.  .  .  .  We  hear  the  sound 
of  preparation,  the  music  of  boisterous  drums — the  silver  voices  of 
heroic  bugles.  We  see  thousands  of  assemblages,  and  hear  the  ap- 
peals of  orators.  We  see  the  pale  cheeks  of  women,  and  the  flushed 
faces  of  men,  and  in  those  assemblages  we  see  all  the  dead  whose 
dust  we  have  covered  with  flowers.  We  lose  sight  of  them  no  more. 
.  .  •  We  see  them  part  with  those  they  love.  Some  are  walking 
for  the  last  time  in  quiet,  woody  places,  with  maidens  they  adore. 
We  hear  the  whisperings  and  the  sweet  vows  of  eternal  love  as  they 
lingeringly  part  forever.  Others  are  bending  over  cradles,  kissing 
the  babes  that  are  asleep.  Some  are  receiving  the  blessings  of  old 
men.  Some  are  parting  with  mothers  who  hold  them  and  press 
them  to  their  hearts  again  and  again,  and  say  nothing.  Kisses 
and  tears,  tears  and  kisses — the  divine  mingling  of  agony  and  love! 
And  some  are  talking  with  wives,  and  endeavoring  with  brave 
words,  spoken  in  the  old  tones,  to  drive  from  their  hearts  the 
awful  fear.  We  see  them  part.  We  see  the  wife  standing  in  the 
door  with  the  babe  in  her  arms — standing  in  the  sunlight  sobbing. 
At  the  turn  of  the  road  a  hand  waves — and  she  answers  by  holding 
high  in  her  loving  arms  the  child.     He  is  gone, — and  forever.  .  .  . 

"We  go  with  them,  one  and  all.  We  are  by  their  side  on  all 
the  gory  fields — in  all  the  hospitals  of  pain — on  all  the  weary 
marches.     We  stand  guard  with  them  in  the  wild  storm  and  under 


*  Slightly  abbreviated  excerpt  from  an  Oration  at  the  Soldiers 
and  Sailors'  Reunion,  Indianapolis,  September  21,  1876.  Reprinted 
from  Prose-Poems  and  Selections  from  Writings  and  Sayings  of 
Robert  G.  Ingersoll.     Published  by  C.  P.  Farrell,  New  York. 


•-^  ••.?  v'  "  '  '  -  ■  •  V.  »  fe'  I 


i:  •■■.!■« 


5^  u\  '. 


OS 

H 

O 

M 

M 
H 

t 


o 

03 

H 
O 


O 


242  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

the  quiet  stars.  We  are  with  them  in  ravines  running  with  blood 
— in  the  furrows  of  old  fields.  .  .  .  We  see  them  pierced  by  balls 
and  torn  with  shell,  in  the  trenches,  by  the  forts,  and  in  the 
whirlwind  of  the  charge.  .  .  . 

"We  are  at  home  when  the  news  comes  that  they  are  dead. 
We  see  the  maiden  in  the  shadow  of  her  first  sorrow.  We  see  the 
silvered  head  of  the  old  man  bowed  with  the  last  grief.  .  .  . 

"They  sleep  .  .  .  under  the  solemn  pines,  the  sad  hemlocks,  the 
tearful  willow  and  the  embracing  vines.  They  sleep  beneath  the 
shadows  of  the  clouds,  careless  alike  of  sunshine  or  storm,  each  in 
the  windowless  Palace  of  Rest.   .   .   ." 

(E)     Ixgersoll's  Vision  of  the  Future.* 

"A  vision  of  the  future  rises:  ...  I  see  a  world  where  thrones 
have  crumbled  and  where  kings  are  dust.  The  aristocracy  of  idle- 
ness has  perished  from  the  earth. 

"I  see  a  world  without  a  slave.  Man  at  last  is  free.  Nature's 
forces  have  by  science  been  enslaved.  Lightning  and  light,  wind 
and  wave,  frost  and  flame,  and  all  the  secret  subtle  powers  of  the 
earth  and  air  are  the  tireless  toilers  for  the  human  race. 

"I  see  a  world  at  peace,  adorned  with  every  form  of  art,  with 
music's  myriad  voices  thrilled,  while  lips  are  rich  with  words  of 
love  and  truth;  a  world  in  which  no  exile  sighs,  no  prisoner 
mourns;  a  world  on  which  the  gibbet's  shadow  does  not  fall;  a 
world  where  labor  reaps  its  full  reward,  where  work  and  worth  go 
hand  in  hand,  where  the  poor  girl,  trying  to  win  bread  with  a  needle 
— the  needle  that  has  been  called  'the  asp  for  the  breast  of  the  poor,' 
—is  not  driven  to  the  desperate  choice  of  crime  or  death,  of  sui- 
cide or  shame. 

"I  see  a  world  without  the  beggar's  outstretched  palm,  the 
miser's  heartless,  stony  stare,  the  piteous  wail  of  want,  the  livid 
lips  of  lies,  the  cruel  eyes  of  scorn. 

"I  see  a  race  without  disease  of  flesh  or  brain — shapely  and 
fair,  married  harmony  of  form  and  function,  and,  as  I  look,  life 
lengthens,  joy  deepens,  love  canopies  the  earth;  and  over  all  in 
the  great  dome,  shines  the  eternal  star  of  human  hope." 

These  golden  words,  these  words  of  immortal  beauty,  are, 
"like  love,  wine  for  the  heart  and  brain."  They  fire  the  soul, 
especially  the  mother's  soul,  with  a  glorious  joy,  a  splendid 


*  Very  slightly  abbreviated  excerpt  from  a  Decoration  Day 
Oration,  delivered  at  the  Metropolitan  Opera  House,  New  York 
City,  May  30,  1888.  Reprinted  from  Vol.  IX.,  p.  453,  Dresden 
Edition  of  Ingersoll's  Complete  Works.  Published  by  C.  P.  Farrell, 
New  York. 


MOTHER,  BOYS  AND  GIRLS.  243 

vision  of  unstained,  untroubled  pleasure:  Mankind  at  Peace 
— Socialized.  The  children  safe.  The  future  vast  and  beau- 
tiful and  kind  for  her  and  for  those  that  call  her  Mother. 

But  again  and  yet  again  the  cannon's  roar  will  banish  the 
vision.  The  future  holds  agony  for  the  mother,  especially  for 
the  humble  mother  in  the  working  class.  Her  husband  and 
her  older  sons  will  go  to  war.  They  will  even  thoughtlessly 
sink  to  the  level  of  joining  the  local  militia  for  local  war — 
for  strike  service.  The  men  she  loves  have  been  poisoned — 
poisoned  with  the  base  teaching  that  brutality  is  bravery,  that 
the  drawn  sword  marks  the  patriot.  They  are  ready,  ready 
now,  at  the  word  of  command  from  a  cheap  commander  to 
murder  the  men  of  their  own  class,  and  break  the  hearts  and 
mock  the  tears  of  the  wage-slave  mothers  of  the  world. 

These  mothers  must  defend  themselves — for  the  present. 

These  mothers  can  defend  themselves  only  through  their 
younger  sons  and  daughters — by  teaching  them  a  class  loyalty 
which  is  a  new  patriotism  that  will  close  the  local  armory, 
shame  the  assassin  back  to  the  factory,  to  the  farm,  to  the 
mine,  and  silence  all  the  cannon  on  all  the  earth. 


CHAPTER  NINE. 
The  Cross,  the  Cannon,  and  the  Cash-Register. 

"Never  land  long  lease  of  empire  won  whose  sons  sat  silent 
while  base  deeds  were  done." — James  Russell  Lowell. 

Speak !  Speak  ! — 3'ou  leaders  of  the  toil-stained  multitude 
whom  the  Great  Christ  of  Peace  so  boldly  defended. 

Speak ! 

Eebuke  the  brutes  who  betray  Christ's  humble  followers! 

Speak !    There  is  no  excuse  for  silence — on  your  part. 

Speak  defiantly — and  clearly. 

You  have  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  held  the  brain 
of  vast  portions  of  the  human  race  in  your  hands.  Have  you 
taught  peace — effectively  f 

Look — see  that  gaping  war-stab  in  the  breast  of  the  work- 
ing class. 

The  cash  cost  of  militarism  in  the  world  for  forty- 
eight  HOURS  WOULD  BE  SUFFICIENT  TO  PROVIDE  A  150-PAGE 
BOOK   AGAINST  WAR  FOR  EVERT  PERSON  ON   EARTH   WHO   CAN 

READ.*     Three  sermons  per  year  against  wak  in  every 
ONE  OF  160,000  churches  of  the  United  States  could  be 

paid  FOR;,  AT  the  RATE  OF  $50  PER  SERMON,  WITH  LESS  THAN 
THE  COST  OF  TWO  FIRST-CLASS  BATTLESHIPS. 

"Nothing  can  be  clearer  than  that  the  leaders  of  Christianity 
immediately  succeeding  Christ,  from  whom  authentic  expressions  of 
doctrines  have  come  down  to  us,  were  well  assured  that  their  Master 
had  forbidden  the  Christians  the  killing  of  men  in  war  or  en- 
listing in  the  legions.  One  of  the  chief  differences  which  separated 
Roman  non-Christians  and  Christians  was  the  refusal  of  the  latter 
to  enlist  in  the  legiona  and  be  thus  bound  to  kill  their  fellows  as 
directed."! 


*  See  Chapter  Four,  Section  Two,  "The  Cost  of  War  in  Cash." 
f  "Documents    of    the    American    Association    for    International 
Conciliation,"   1907-08. 


Q 


;?5 

H 

1^ 


246  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Eagerly  we  search  the  world  for  relief  from  the  hell's 
horror  of  war. 

There !  There  is  the  Church — the  Church  with  her  vast 
influence ! — and  she  breathes,  "Peace,  good  will  to  all  men." 

The  Church? 

Will  the  Church  save  us  from  war  ? 

We  shall  see.  • 

Reader,  let  us  always  open  wide  our  souls  to  every  man 
and  to  every  influence  great  enough  to  make  us  socially 
wholesomer. 

Sincerely,  I  admire  every  great  Priest,  every  great  Rabbi, 
and  every  great  Preacher  of  our  time  who  is  too  fine,  too 
proud,  too  nobly  social  and  international  to  rent  his  eloquent 
voice  to  the  captains  of  industry  for  the  blood-spilling  busi- 
ness of  conquering  the  markets  of  the  world  with  sword  and 
cannon  and  for  the  equally  brutal  business  of  benevolently 
stealing  large  sections  of  the  earth  to  be  swinishly  exploited  by 
money-greedy  capitalists. 

These  men  ire  masculine — unafraid.  Let  us  salute  them : 
"Good  cheer,  noble  friends !" 

Boldly  these  greater  Priests  refuse  to  toady  to  industrial 
and  political  masters  and  thus  refuse  to  scream  for  war. 

Defiantly  these  greater  Rabbis  refuse  to  inflame  the  tiger 
lurking  in  every  human  breast  and  thus  refuse  to  prepare 
men  for  war. 

Nobly  these  greater  Preachers  refuse  Caesar  and  Shy- 
lock,  and  thus  they  stand  by  the  Man  of  Peace  and  abhor  war. 

But,  unfortunately,  these  grand  bold  souls  are  in  help- 
less minorit}' — at  present. 

And  thus  again  we  find  the  following  question  burning  for 
an  answer: 

Which  way  shall  the  working  class  turn  for  deliverance 
from  the  curse  of  war? 

Who  will  rescue  the  working  class  from  these  cyclones 
of  lead  and  steel? 

The  Church?    The  Clergy? 

Let  us  study  this  matter. 

Long  ago  when  the  deluded  soldiers  of  an  "established" 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  247 

church  "patriotically"  murdered  the  Great  Carpenter,  the  "es- 
tablished" church  of  his  locality  hypocritically  stood  by  the  pa- 
gan Koman  government,  lending  assistance  to  the  pagan  gov- 
ernment and  urging  the  pagan  soldiers  to  slay  Jesus  Christ. 
And  today  the  Christian  church  flatters  the  soldiers,  "stands  by 
the  government," — any  and  all  "Christian"  governments, — in 
any  and  all  wars,  and  thus  refuses  to  protect  the  working 
class  from  the  sword  and  cannon ;  refuses  to  draw  the  bayonet 
from  the  breast  of  the  humble  working  man ;  refuses  to  defend 
the  working  class  woman  from  the  blood  and  tears  of  war ;  re- 
fuses to  shield  the  faces  of  the  little  children  of  the  working 
class  from  the  steel-shod  hoofs  of  the  galloping  war  horse. 

This  Chapter  is  a  discussion  of  one  of  mankind's  mis- 
fortunes, to  show  the  despotism  of  the  dollar, — to  shovs^  the 

TYRANNY  OF  THE  ECONOMIC    ELEMENT  OF  HUMAN  LIFE;   and 

let  me  here  give  most  sincere  assurance  that  this  Chapter  is 
written  with  not  even  the  slightest  degree  of  malice  toward 
the  Church.  However,  the  Church  taught  me:  "Speak  the 
truth." 

Well,  here  is  a  truth,  a  truth  to  be  stripped  naked  and 
expressed  because  it  is  so  vitally  important  to  hundreds  of 
millions  who  toil : — 

The  three  mighty  hosts  of  the  Peace-Preaching  Christ, 
the  Greek  Catholic  Church,  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  and 
the  Protestant  Church,  these,  bitterly  at  war  with  one  another 
and  defending  the  industrial  despotism  called  capitalism, — 
refuse,  flatly  refuse,  to  unite  their  powerful  voices  in  a  de- 
fiant and  effective  declaration  against  war;  refuse  thus  to 
help  lift  the  huge  burden  and  curse  of  war  from  the  toil- 
bent  shoulders  of  the  working  class;  refuse  to  remove  the 
thorn-crown  of  war  from  the  brow  of  labor.  The  working 
class,  millions  of  them  loving  Christ  sincerely  as  I  do,  must 
learn  and  face  the  fact  that  the  Church  of  the  Great  Car- 
penter Christ  refuses  to  save  the  working  class  from  the 
periodic  baptisms  of  blood  and  fire  called  war. 

"Put  up  thy  sword,"  said  Christ. 

"Business  is  business!     There  is  no  sentiment  in  busi- 


248  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

ness !  We  must  conquer  the  markets  of  the  world,"  say  the 
capitalists. 

And  there  is  the  parting  of  the  ways  for  toads  and  men, 
for  the  time-server  and  the  prophet,  for  the  emasculate  and 
the  masculine. 

In  1898  a  certain  man  lived  in  a  small  western  "city" — 
and  took  notes.  A  local  company  of  working  class  volunteers 
was  organized  to  go  to  Cuba  to  slaughter  the  working  men  in 
the  Spanish  army  and  thus  secure  greater  opportunity  for 
American  capitalists.  On  the  day  of  departure  of  the  volun- 
teer company  the  people,  thousands  of  them,  assembled  on 
a  wide  public  square,  surrounding  the  local  volunteers. 
Suddenly,  when  interest  was  intense,  a  high  table  was  rushed 
to  the  center  of  the  square,  a  banker  thoughtfully  assisting. 
Hastily  a  meek  and  lowly  follower  of  the  Peaceful  Jesus — 
a  preacher — took  his  place  upon  this  table,  his  eyes  flashing 
hate  and  his  chest  bulging  heroically.  All  hats  were  off.  All 
heads,  but  two,  were  bowed  in  prayer.  With  head  erect  and 
eyes  open  the  preacher,  in  prayer,  addressed — the  audience. 
With  his  eyes  to  the  sky,  the  preacher,  praying,  used  the  name 
of  God  and  the  ears  of  the  people.  There  was  no  "praying  in 
secret"  about  that  "eloquent  effort."  The  prayer  was  "power- 
ful." That  prayer  was  an  assault — an  assault  upon  the  finest 
sentiments  that  bloom  in  the  human  heart,  the  sentiments  of 
the  brotherhood  of  man. 

But  what  of  that?     "Business  is  business." 

That  eloquent  prayer  electrified  the  vast  audience.  The 
preacher  became  an  incendiary — he  committed  arson.  His 
ferocious  rhetoric  set  on  fire  the  gullible  souls  of  young  men, 
humble  women,  innocent  small  boys  and  tender  little  girls. 
With  crafty  eloquence  he  petted  the  working  class  volunteers 
till  they  stood  more  erect  in  manly  pride  and  licked  their  lips 
for  the  blood  of  almost  equally  ignorant  Spanish  working 
men ;  vnth.  flattering  phrases  he  seductively  praised  the  plain 
women  who  bore  these  "brave  boys"  now  ready  to  butcher, 
praised  them  till  these  gentle,  humble  mothers  were  warm 
with  an  elation  known  only  to  mothers  of  strong  men,  praised 
them  till  they  were  keen  with  a  savage  gladness  that  they  had 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  249 

borne  these  men  now  burning  to  slaughter  humble  toilers 
from  the  working  class  homes  in  Spain.  With  artful  power 
of  phrase  and  voice  the  preacher  praised  the  small  boys 
present,  praying  for  "more  brave  boys  in  future  years  to  stand 
by  the  flag" — caressed  them  thus  till  the  poor  little  fellows 
longed  to  be  men  in  order  that  they  too  might  rend  the  flesh 
of  humble  working-class  men  in  war — somewhere,  anywhere, 
somehow,  sometime.  And  then  with  cunning  suggestiveness 
and  with  vulgar  boldness  this  handsome  panderer  to  capitalist 
masters  rudely  invaded  the  holy  of  holies,  the  innocent  imag- 
ination of  tender  little  girls  present,  brutally  outraged  the 
sacred  instincts  of  kindness  natural  to  these  dainty  little 
maids  till  these  young  doll-lovers  were  half  excited  with  a 
dim  but  horrible  hope,  till  their  faces  flushed  in  anticipation 
of  the  patriotic  part  they  too  in  future  years  might  have  in 
sending  their  assassin  sons  to  the  front. 

The  prayer  ended.  The  preacher  rolled  his  fine  dark  eyes 
and  fervently  bellowed,  "Amen !" 

He  had  done  his  work.  He  had  played  his  part.  Souls 
had  been  branded.  Human  brotherhood  had  been  suffocated 
in  the  hearts  of  gullible  working  men — strangled  with  elegant 
(and  pious)  eloquence. 

Then  the  thousands  of  humble  working  class  people  moved 
off,  "hoofing  it,"  marching  behind  the  soldiers  to  the  rail- 
way station.  A  half  dozen  bankers,  a  dozen  lawyers,  and 
many  other  "leading  business  men"  lingered,  left  their  car- 
riages, surrounded  the  preacher  and  congratulated  him  on  his 
"splendid  effort"; — and  that  was  part  of  his  pay  for  his 
eloquent  ferocity.  Well-dressed  women  of  the  'Haest  families 
in  the  city"  gave  the  preacher  their  gloved  right  hands  and 
practically  embraced  him  with  the  virtuous  and  caressing 
fondness  in  their  eyes; — and  that  was  part  of  his  pay  for 
scarring  the  souls  of  men,  women,  and  little  children  with 
the  branding-iron  of  Old  Testament  ferocity.  That  savage 
prayer  made  him  more  popular  in  the  city; — and  that  was 
part  of  his  pay  for  his  noble  ferocity.  He  was  now  more 
secure  in  his  job; — and  that  was  part  of  his  pay  for  his 
ecclesiastical  buncombe  and  flap-doodle. — for  his  jungle  growl 


250  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

of  civilized  ferocity.  The  collections  were  for  some  time 
larger  in  his  church; — and  that,  yea,  that  also,  was  part  of 
his  pay  for  serving  the  cash-register  and  thus  playing  the 
role  of  betrayer  of  the  Prince  of  Peace. 

The  handsome  preacher  had  performed  a  miracle.  He 
had  so  fixedly  riveted  the  attention  of  the  '^rave  boys"  upon 
the  Spaniards  that  the  g-ullible  volunteers  noticed  nothing 
strange  in  the  fact  that  strong,  healthy  bankers,  lawyers,  mer- 
chants and  preachers  (patriots  all  of  them  of  course) — with 
the  stealthy  quiet  of  a  cat  on  a  carpet — remained  at  home 
just  at  the  very  time  when  "great  deeds  of  glory  and  patriot- 
ism" and  manly  heroism  were  to  be  done. 

Doubtless  many  a  shot-torn  boy  soldier  wallowing  in  his  own 
blood,  his  chest  half  crushed  with  the  hoofs  of  galloping 
cavalry  horses,  his  splintered  bones  grinding  together  at  every 
move,  the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  din  of  curses,  prayers, 
yells,  sobs  and  groans  of  dying  comrades  crowding  into  his 
ears — thinks  of  his  well-fed,  soft-voiced  pastor  at  home  far 
away  (and  safe),  the  good  man,  the  nice  man,  who  fired 
his  and  his  fellow-fighters'  hearts  with  "lust  of  death  and 
vulgar  slaughter,"  who  helped  betray  him  and  his  fellows  to 
the  human  butchering  field.  No  doubt  many  working  class 
people  fondly  hope  that  the  ministers  of  the  Christ  of  Peace 
will  presently  combine  and  use  their  vast  influence  against 
war — to  drive  the  red  demon  from  the  earth  that  it  may  no 
longer  desolate  the  homes  of  the  humble. 

Vain  hope. 

Long  ago  the  cynical,  shrewd  (and  carefully  baptized) 
Napoleon  Bonaparte  remarked,  with  biting  irony,  "God  is 
always  on  the  side  of  the  heaviest  battalions." 

Today  it  is  easy  to  see  that  not  Christ,*  but  the  Church 
of  Christ,  is  on  the  side  of  the  business  man  and  the  poli- 
tician concerning  war. 

And  thus  the  hayonet  still  sticks  in  the  breast  of  the 
working  class. 

Thus  the  Cross  dips  to  the  cannon. 


'S«€  Chapter  Eight.  Section  13  and  14. 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  251 

Really,  will  not  the  followers  of  the  gentle  Christ  of  Peace 
presently  sweep  war  from  the  world? 

They   most  certainly   will   do   nothing  of  the  kind — as 
long  as  war  is  profitable  for  the  "leading  citizens." 

"Leading  citizens"  actually  lead.  They  are  the  capitalists. 
Industrially  and  politically  the  capitalists  have  the  world 
by  the  throat.  They  force  their  ambitions,  their  purposes, 
and  their  policies  upon  both  the  preacher  and  the  wage-earner. 
Their  purpose  is :  profits,  more  profits  and  still  more  profits. 
Their  policy  is:  more  markets  and  more  territory — for  more 
profits,  at  all  hazard,  in  absolute  defiance  of  Confucius,  in 
defiance  of  Buddha,  in  defiance  of  Christ,  in  shameless  de- 
fiance of  the  sacredness  of  human  blood.  They  will,  if 
need  be, — that  is,  if  business,  commercial  exigencies,  require 
it — they  will  order  the  high-salaried  generals  to  wash  the 
earth  with  the  blood  of  the  socially  despised  work- 
ing class,  while  safe  in  their  palatial  homes  these  "leading 
citizens"  will  masquerade  as  patriots,  and  on  the  "holy  Sab- 
bath day"  they  will  virtually  force  their  salaried  pastors  to 
pray  and  shout  for  blood-dripping  victory. 

This  is  the  industrial  rulers'  history. 

This  is  the  industrial  rulers'  present  politics. 

This  is  the  industrial  rulers'  future  program. 

And  the  preacher  must  therefore  salute  the  cash-register 
and  baptize  the  cannon — or  lose  his  job  just  like  any  other 
hired  man  who    fails  to  please  his  economic  master. 

"Business  is  business," — that  is  "the  law  and  the  gospel" 
of  capitalism. 

Let  us  study  the  matter  a  little  further. 

When  a  war  is  on  the  world's  stage  the  bright  lights  are 
so  confusing  that  it  is  difficult  to  see  the  "leading  citizens" 
in  the  background,  "in  the  wings,"  so  to  speak.    For  example : 

The  American  people  are  still  clapping  their  hands  and 
hurrahing  for  "our  noble  Christian  President"  for  his  part  in 
bringing  about  peace  between  Russia  and  Japan.  But  why 
— just  why — did  not  the  "noble  Christian  President"  nobly 
interfere  many  months  before  he  did  interfere?  The  blood 
of  tens  of  thousands  of  humble  working-class  soldiers  in  both 


252  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

armies  was  running  down  the  hillsides  in  Manchuria  m 
streams — months  before.  But  no  interference  by  the  "noble 
Christian  President"  (recently  so  boisterously  boastful  of 
'Tiis"  own  noble  slaughtering  on  San  Juan  Hill). 

Let  us  understand. 

For  many  months  it  seemed  that  Christian  Eussia  would 
surely  win  the  war  and  still  be  able  to  pay,  interest  and 
principal  of  American  investments  in  Russia.  Later  the  Rus- 
sian Government  and  Russian  credit  became  very  unsteady.  Im- 
mediately the  capitalist  actors  in  the  background,  with  money 
invested  in  Russian  enterprises,  put  on  the  pressure,  applied 
"influence,"  to  our  government,  and  then,  and  not  till  then, 
did  President  Roosevelt  rush  to  the  footlights  of  the  world's 
stage  and  whine  and  scream  for  peace. 

For  many  months,  while  the  blood  of  Japanese  and  Rus- 
sian working  class  men  was  gushing  from  a  million  wounds, 
while  the  humble  wives  and  children  of  these  "common"  men 
were  wild  with  grief — all  the  while  "our  noble  Christian 
President,"  like  all  other  Christian  rulers,  was  as  silent  as  a 
fish;  but  when  principal  and  interest  of  American  parasites 
got  in  danger,  our  "noble  Christian  President"  promptly  be- 
came nobly  noisy  and  craftily  pious  and  peaceful. 

And  that  is  a  fair  sample  of  a  "Christian  government's" 
influence  for  peace. 

At  no  time  did  the  Church  urge  or  demand  peace, 
and  at  no  time  did  the  Church  throw  its  powerful  influence 
upon  our  President  or  upon  the  head  of  any  other  govern- 
ment to  bring  about  peace.* 


*  It  is  mildl}'  encouragiug  to  reflect  that  very  heavy  and  very 
general  international  investments  in  national  and  industrial  bonds 
would  have  at  least  some  tendency  to  dampen  the  bond-buying  capi- 
talists' enthusiasm  for  war:  because,  in  some  cases,  a  disastrous  war 
might  result  in  the  repudiation  of  bonds  and,  in  most  cases,  might 
easily  result  in  a  great  temporary  reduction  of  dividends  from  indus- 
trial investments.  Another  thing  to  be  noted  here  is  that  sometimes 
the  investors  in  the  bonds  of  an  unstable  nation  about  to  go  to 
war,  may  regret  the  threatening  war  and  urge  against  it  and  even 
decline  to  buy  war  bonds,  before  the  war  is  declared,  in  order  to  pro- 
tect  their   investments   alreadv   made.     But   after   the  war   ia   once 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  253 

Our  gentle  Christian  President,  Mr.  Eoosevelt,  head  of  the 
greatest  Christian  republic  on  earth,  said  recently  to  a  hand- 
clapping  Christian  audience,  "I  want  for  soldiers  young  men 
not  only  willing  but  anxious  to  fight";  that  is,  anxious  to 
murder.  That  foul  sentiment  should  have  been  drowned  with 
hisses.  The  ferocious  Christian  Tsars  of  Eussia,  the  blood- 
thirsting  Caesars  of  the  ancient  pagan  Roman  Empire,  the 
chiefs  of  savage  tribes  and  modern  republics, — all  the  ancient 
and  modern,  savage  and  civilized  hero  rulers  who  have  sat  on 
thrones  and  stood  on  the  necks  of  nations — all  these  bullies 
have  always  been  eager  to  have  for  soldiers  "young  men  not 
only  willing  but  anxious  to  fight" — that  is,  willing  and  anxious 
to  cut  the  throats  of  their  fellowmen  in  an  intertribal  or 
international  festival  of  blood  called  a  patriotic  war. 

And  always,  since  society  was  first  organized  on  a  class- 
labor  plan,  the  organized  "spiritual  guides"  of  society  have 
"stood  by  the  government,"  leagued  with  the  hero  ruler  for 
the  ruling  class. 

Mr.  Roosevelt,  for  the  moral  improvement  and  spiritual 
guidance  of  small  boys  who  may  read  his  heroic  record  as 
a  patriotic  warrior,  sets  it  down  with  evident  pride  that  he 
shot  a  Spanish  soldier  (probably  a  humble  workingman)  in 
the  back  as  the  poor,  ignorant,  frightened  fellow  fled  from 
the  bloody  field.*  Mr.  Roosevelt,  as  related  in  Chapter  Eight, 
Section  16,  urged  in  an  Annual  Message  that  rifle-practice 
ranges  be  provided  in  the  public  schools  for  young  school  boys 
— presumably  that  the  little  fellows  may  become  "not  only 
willing  but  anxious  to  fight."  And  the  Church  of  the  Peace- 
ful Christ  did  not  dare  rebuke  the  "great  Christian  President" 


entered  upon  these  same  regretful  investors  feel  almost  compelled 
to  purchase  the  new  issue  of  war-bonds  in  order  to  make  victory 
more  certain  for  the  nation  whose  bonds  they  already  hold,  and 
thus  protect  the  market  value  of  their  original  investments. 
French  investors  in  Russian  bonds  and  enterprises  to  the  extent  of 
more  than  a  billion  dollars  found  themselves  in  this  predicament  in 
the  case  of  the  recent  Russian- Japanese  war.  See  Index:  "Bank- 
ruptcy, Danger  of." 

*  See  Chapter  Seven,  Section  17. 


254  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

for  urging  such  a  barbarous  outrage  upon  the  schoolboys' 
dawning  social  consciousness  and  their  finer  sentiments  of  the 
brotherhood  of  man. 

Eecently  a  school  teacher  in  the  city  of  Washington,  where 
this  swaggering-bull-pup  patriotism  has  been  most  effectively 
suggested,  asked  her  school  children:  "What  is  patriotism?" 
She  got  the  answer :  "Killing  Spaniards !"  Thus  have  the 
little  people  been  outraged  with  befouling  suggestions  that 
cheap  race-hatred  is  patriotism.  But  the  Church  does  not 
dare  cry  out,  in  defense  of  "these  little  ones" :  "Stop  that ! 
You  noisy  betrayer !  Cease  pouring  venom  into  the  hearts 
of  these  helpless  little  children !" 

"With  a  hero  at  head  and  a  nation 

Well  gagged  and  well-drilled  and  well  cowed, 

And  a  gospel  of  war  and  damnation, 

Has  not  an  empire  a  right  to  be  proud?"* 

Quite  naturally  no  protest  is  made. 

The  working  man  wonders  why. 

The  working  woman  wonders  why, 

The  children  wonder  why — 

Why  do  not  the  Christian  emperors,  and  Christian  kings, 
the  Christian  tsars  and  Christian  presidents,  the  Christian 
Parliaments,  congresses,  diets  and  cabinets  of  the  whole  Chris- 
tian world  promptly  call  a  world  convention  of  the  Christian 
rulers  of  the  Christian  world,  and  in  this  convention  de- 
clare at  once  that  never,  never  again,  under  any  circumstances, 
shall  there  be  a  war  between  Christian  nations? 

Yes,  indeed,  why  not?t 

For  this  reason: — The  Christian  nations  are  capitalist 
nations  managed  for  the  capitalist  class.  Each  great  Chris- 
tian nation  knows  that  it  must  find  a  foreign  market  for  the 
EMBARRASSINGLY  LARGE  SURPLUS  of  goods  which  its  Capital- 
ists do  not  consume  or  invest  and  its  working  class  is,  by  the 
wage-system,  not  permitted  to  consume.  Each  and  all  these 
nations  know  that  this  foreigx  market  must  be  found 
OPENED  AND  PROTECTED — with  Christian  sword  and  cannon 


*  Swinburne :    "A  Word  for  the  Country." 
fSee  Index:    "The  Hague  Peace  Conference." 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  255 

if  need  be — in  order  that  the  capitalists  of  these  countries 
may  make  more  profits.  Indeed,  when  markets  must  thus  be 
had.  Christians ,  Jews,  Mohammedans,  Buddhists,  Confu- 
cians— with  lust  for  profits — trample  down  all  things  fine, 
sand-bag  everything  noble,  spit  in  the  face  of  every  man  of 
peace,  and  shout,  "Stand  back !  Stand  back !  Bring  on  the 
cannon !  Business  is  business !  There  is  no  sentiment  in 
business !  To  hell  with  the  mollycoddles !  We  are  in  business 
for  profits!" 

With  noble  exceptions,  at  such  times  Christian  preachers, 
priests,  and  bishops  of  the  warring  nations,  with  the  swagger 
and  pomp  of  cheap  "fighting  parsons,"  step  briskly  to  the 
front  of  the  stage,  consecrate  the  cannon,  "bless"  the  sword, 
baptize  the  butcher,  and,  on  both  sides,  with  pious  savagery 
scream  to  the  "God  of  battles,"  also  to  the  "God  of  peace," 
for  victory  "in  this  righteous  war,"  for  victory  in  this  "armed 
crusade  for  Christ/'  for  victory  in  this  "glorious  effort  to 
advance  His  Icingdom," — always,  always,  of  course,  some  lofty 
name,  some  swelling  phrase,  to  veil  the  huge  and  pious 
murder. 

Sacred  wholesale  assassinations — for  the  Peaceful  Jesus' 
sake ! 

Even  every  massacre  of  the  peaceful  Jews  in  Eussia 
is  sanctioned  by  the  Greek  Christian  Church, — and  the  Roman 
and  the  Protestant  churches  and  the  Christian  governments  of 
the  world  do  not  unite  and  demand  peace  for  the  peaceful 
Jews. 

"God  moves  in  a  mysterious  way  his  wonders  to  perform," 
we  are  piously  taught. 

Mysterious.     Very. 

But  it  is  not  mysterious  why  pro-war  preachers,  priests, 
and  bishops  are  not  slaughtered  on  the  battleline  and  then 
eaten  by  buzzards  when  the  cannon's  feast  is  finished.  These 
men  are  too  intelligent — too  cunning — for  the  buzzards' 
banquet. 

Every  distinguished  professional  butcher  in  modern  times 
has  been  a  "member  in  good  standing"  in  his  denomination 
and  his  blood-stenched  fame  is  recited  with  pride. 


256  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

That  mysterious? 

All  soldiers  are  blessed  as  they  march  away  to  "Death's 
feast." 

The  preacher  consecrates  the  cut-throat. 

The  bayonet  is  prepared — with  prayer — to  be  thrust  into 
the  bowels  of  the  toilers. 

All  wars  are  somehow  pronounced  "mysteriously  the  will 
of  God";  and  the  cannoneers  who  hurl  shot  and  shell  into  a 
city  or  village  and  cannonade  helpless  women  and  children 
— these  are  "the  servants  of  the  Lord" — mysteriously. 

And  thus  to  the  appalling  music  of  the  cannon's  roar  the 
Cross  is  dragged  down  into  the  bloody  mire  where  men  die 
cursing  the  preachers  safe  at  home  who  helped  trick  them 
to  the  hell  called  war.  And  thus,  too,  the  spirit  of  the 
great  fraternal  Christ  is  banished  from  the  lives  of  the  be- 
trayers and  the  betrayed — and  Christ  is  crucified  anew. 

Because  it  is  profitable. 

Thus  in  all  Christian  nations  the  Cross  dips  obsequiously  to 
the  red-throated  cannon — and  to  the  cash-register. 

Business  is  business;  the  rulers  rule;  and  gold  is  God. 

That  is,  under  capitalism. 

Eeader,  name  one  "civil"  war  or  one  international  war  of 
modern  times  powerfully,  effectively  hindered  by  the  Church 
of  the  Man  of  Peace.* 

Just  one. 

But  no  matter!  Since  long  before  the  slaughter  of  the 
Carpenter  our  brothers  of  the  working  class  have  furnished 
the  blood  and  tears — cheap  blood,  cheap  tears, — about  forty 
cents  a  day  for  American  "regulars"  in  the  "year  of  our 
Lord"  1910. 

Learn  this,  you  toilers :  The  capitalists  have  the  preacher 
cornered  and  shackled.  The  working  class  must  be  their  own 
saviors  from  the  horrors  of  war.  In  Chapter  Ten  I  shall 
explain  how  this  can  be  done  and  even  now  begins  to  be 
done  by  the  working  class. 


See  Chapter  Four,  Section  One. 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  257 

But  the  workers  should  learn  from  history  and  keep  dis- 
tinctly in  mind  this  great  lesson :  With  noble  individual  ex- 
ceptions the  ministry,  the  religious  leaders,  have  in  times 
past  defended  chattel  slavery  with  its  unspeakable  horrors 
for  the  working  class;  and  have  defended  serfdom  with  its  hell 
for  the  working  class;  and  have  ignobly  defended  all  Christian 
national  and  international  wars  of  modern  capitalism  praying 
on  both  sides  to  the  "God  of  battles"  for  "glorious  victory" 
regardless  of  the  blood  spurting  from  a  million  wounds  in 
the  torn  breast  of  the  working  class. 

The  path  of  human  progress  in  modern  times  is  steep 
and  slippery  with  the  carcasses  and  blood  of  the  socially 
despised  working  men — and  the  Church  has  not  defied  the 
cash-register  idolater  and  demanded  peace. 

Unrebuked,  right  proudly  the  cash-register  devotee,  the 
business  man,  blurts  out:  "There  is  no  sentiment  in  busi- 
ness." 

That  proposition,  "No  sentiment,"  is  enough  to  make  a 
cannibal  blush.  Yet  that  doctrine  is  at  the  heart  of  capitalism. 

If  there  is  no  sentiment  in  htisiness,  then  there  is  no 
brotherhood  in  business,  for  brotherhood  is  a  sublime  and 
beautiful  sentiment. 

And  if  there  is  no  brotherhood  in  business  there  can  not 
be  Christian  fellowship  in  business. 

Thus  business  banishes  Christ  and  the  Cross  retreats  be- 
fore the  onslaughts  of  the  cash-register. 

But  it  is  actually  and  sadly  true  that  business,  competitive 
business,  is  too  little  and  belittling,  too  wolfishly  fierce,  for 
deep  and  loyal  brotherhood.  This  is  also  true  of  the  great 
class  competition,  the  class  struggle,  the  embittering  clash  of 
industrial  class  interests. 

And  where  there  is  no  deep  and  loyal  brotherhood,  no 
great  socializing  unity  of  interest  stretching  from  the  centre 
to  the  rim  of  society,  including  all,  peace  is  impossible. 

Thus  it  is  that  in  the  great  competitive  business  world, 
like  quarrelsome  dogs,  every  business  man's  hand  is  against 
every  other  business  man's  hand  competing  in  the  "same  line," 
to  "put  him  out  of  business"  and  thus  '^get  more  business." 


258  WAB—WHAT  FOR? 

Thus  local  neighbors  are  at  war  in  a  Christless  scramble 
for  business. 

Thus  nations  also,  fiercely  struggling  for  markets  and 
territory,  are  at  war — commercial  war — sometimes  needing 
sword  and  cannon.     (See  pp.  40-41.) 

Now,  notice:  Christian  business  men  in  this  brotherless, 
Christless  scramble  called  business  must  have  the  scramble 
made  "respectable."  For  this  purpose  the  minister  is  most 
serviceable.  The  business  men  need  the  minister — "need  him 
in  their  business" — to  consecrate  and  sanctify  the  ways  and 
means,  even  the  sword,  the  cannon  and  the  vast  human 
slaughterings  called  war. 

"Put  up  thy  sword,"  said  Christ. 

"Business  is  business  !  Bless  the  butcher !  Grind  sharp 
the  sword,"  commands  the  business  man. 

But  "no  man  can  serve  two  masters." 

Here  the  minister,  just  like  the  "common  working  man," 
is  face  to  face  with  the  most  domineering  fact  and  force 
IN  HUMAN  life;  namely,  economic  necessity.  The 
preacher  and  the  plumber,  the  rabbi  and  the  sweat-shop 
tailor,  the  priest  and  the  hod-carrier — these  must  live;  they 
must  "get  a  living."  But  the  capitalist  controls  the  oppor- 
tunities to  "get  a  living."  The  "common  working  man"  is 
embarrassed.  The  minister  is  also  embarrassed — tho  he  may 
he — and  very  often  is — one  of  the  noblest  men  in  the  world, 
he  is  embarrassed.  This  economic  force  grips  them  both  like 
a  vise.  They  must  live.  To  live  they  must  kneel  before  the 
king — the  kings  in  industry. 

Obey  or  starve. 

The  inevitable  follows: 

The  plain  common  working  man  and  the  haughty  and 
cultivated  minister — both  of  them — bow  their  heads  and  sub- 
mit their  necks  to  the  cruel  yoke,  the  yoke  of  capitalism.  .\; 

The  rulers  rule. 

Capitalism,  internationally,  is — for  capitalists — a  struggle 
for  a  strangle  hold  among  jealously  competing,  unneighborly 
neighbors,  a  struggle  for  business. 


CnOSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  259 

Capitalism  thus  becomes  a  stupid  snarl  of  "foreigners" — 
to  each  nation  all  other  nations  are  "foreigners." 

And  thus  the  world  is  petty,  unsocial,  "foreign," — a  war 
always  possible  and  threatening  between  "foreigners," — the 
unfortunate  ministers,  most  of  them,  not  to  the  contrary. 

But,  reader,  there  are  no  "foreigners'^ — for  me  and 
MY  International  Friend  Christ  and  my  Inter- 
national Comrades. 

Then  why  should  a  group  of  Christless,  plutocratic  po- 
litical crooks  and  flunky-champagne-guzzlers  in  Paris  or 
Tokio,  in  Berlin  or  London,  in  Madrid  or  Washington — why 
should  any  such  group  of  political  bunco-steerers  by  a  pomp- 
ous declaration  of  assassination  officially  decide  for  you  and 
me  and  our  brothers  of  some  so-called  "foreign  nation" — that 
we  working  class  brothers  are  "enemies"  and  that  we  must 
lay  down  the  instruments  of  production  and  take  up  the 
weapons  of  destruction  and  butcher  ourselves  by  the  tens  of 
thousands  ? 

Why  should  we  permit  a  band  of  cheap  "statesmen"  to 
order  us  to  tear  one  another's  throats  like  dogs? 

Why  should  we  fight? 

We  have  no  quarrels. 

The  thing  is  ridiculous — utterly  ridiculous,  is  it  not? 

And  an  equally  important  question  is: — Why  should  we 
working  class  brothers  of  all  the  world  ever  permit  any  eccle- 
siastical savages  to  fan  the  flames  of  international  hatred 
in  our  souls  by  means  of  pious  prayers  and  sermons  in  favor 
of  war  ? 

Even  more  ridiculous,  isn't  it? 

Let  us  refuse  to  murder.  The  blood-spilling  business  is 
too  small  for  brothers,  too  savage  for  socialized  men,  no 
matter  what  their  religious  faith  may  be. 

Perhaps,  brother,  you  and  I  do  not  agree  on  Christ.  But 
we  can  be  good  friends  any  way,  can't  we  ? 

Now,  I  will  tell  you  frankly,  the  Peaceful  Christ  seems 
to  me  to  be  so  much  grander  than  a  war-preaching  preacher, 
so  much  nobler  than  a  flunky  "fighting  parson/'  that  he 


260  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

gains  my  sincere  admiration.  Such  a  great  brave  brother 
he  was. 

Christ  was  the  most  defiant  preacher  that  ever  walked  the 
earth  or  flashed  as  a  character  conception  in  the  human  brain. 

Christ,  the  historical  revolutionary  Christ,  or  Christ, 
splendid  creation  of  imagination,  or  Christ  divine — whichever 
or  whatever  he  was — he  wins  and  compels  my  gratitude: 

Because  he  was  neither  an  automaton  nor  a  tool; 

Because  official  ruffians  even  before  his  mockery  of  a  trial 
viciously  pronounced  him  an  "undesirable  citizen"; 

Because  "leading  citizens"  could  not  use  him,  could  not 
rent  his  influence; 

Because  he  scorned  the  opportunity  to  become  "successful 
in  life"  in  the  contemptible  role  of  intellectual  prostitute; 

Because  he  despised  the  lusting  devotees  of  Mammon; 

Because  he  forgave  the  "duly  convicted"  crucified  thieves 
and  whipped  the  unconvicted  bankers  from  the  temple; 

Because  with  stinging  words  he  lashed  the  whited  sepul- 
chres called  "the  very  best  people"; 

Because  he  was  so  fine  and  great  he  promptly  became 
extremely  unpopular  with  coarse  and  savage  little  "prominent 
people" ; 

Because  he  was  so  gentle  and  terrible  that  the  noisy  and 
cruel  "law-abiding  leading  citizens"  in  their  swaggering 
ignorance  and  malignance  decided  he  was  an  anarchist  and 
proceeded  to  shut  off  his  free  speech ; 

Because  he  was  neither  narrow  enough  to  be  national  nor 
ignorant  enough  to  be  orthodox ; 

Because  on  the  last  morning  of  his  life  he  so  proudly 
despised  the  official  political  bull-pups  who  teased  him  and 
insulted  him — and  could  not  understand  him; 

Because,  on  the  same  morning,  he  so  finely  scorned  the 
bigoted  little  orthodox  holy  bullies  who  hindered  him  and 
wolfishly  screamed  for  the  Carpenter's  blood; 

Because  children  charmed  him; 

Because  the  humble  "common  people"  swarmed  around 
him  and  loved  him — in  spite  of  their  pious  and  orthodox 
"spiritual  advisers" ; 


■  CR088,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  261 

Because  he  scorned  the  "dignity"  of  some  men  and  saw  the 
Dignity  of  Man ; 

Because  he  came  from  the  bottom  up  and  never  forgot — 
never  hesitated  to  defend — "even  the  least  of  these,"  includ- 
ing his  sad,  shamed,  outlawed  sister; 

Because  he  did  not  whimper  and  cringe  when  certain 
religiously  eminent  small  souls  spat  in  the  face  of  the  World 
Soul; 

Because  the  great  wholesome  brother  was  a  true  Social 
Soul,  loving  all  mankind; 

Because,  especially  because,  he  so  finely  forgave  the 
thoughtless  working  class  soldiers  who  mocked  him,  forced  a 
thorn  crown  upon  his  head,  drove  nails  through  his  flesh, 
sneered  at  his  agonies,  and  thrust  a  spear  into  their  working 
class  Brother  Carpenter; 

Because  he  said,  "Put  up  thy  sword,"  regarded  no  man 
as  "foreigner,"  and  died  for  International  Fraternalism. 

A  Social  Man. 

A  Sample. 

I  love  him. 

Let  us,  too,  brother,  be  social  and  international. 

Let  us  bury  the  hatchet,  break  the  rifle,  spike  the  cannon, 
despise  the  sword,  accept  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  for  its 
spirit  of  peace,  and  scorn  any  sermon  that  urges  us  to  war 
against  our  own  class  brothers.  Let  us  detest  any  sermon  that 
stirs  and  fosters  the  tiger  within  us  and  arrests  our  social 
development. 

Social  development. 

"Social  development,"  did  I  say?  Yes,  reader,  that  is 
what  we  need,  social  development. 

Man  on  his  long  march  upward — up  from  the  jungle — 
has  been  impeded  by  a  heavy  burden — ^in  his  blood.  He  has 
carried  the  menagerie — in  his  veins. 

Here  permit  me  to  use  a  very  homely  metaphor,  a  figure 
of  speech  neither  to  your  taste  nor  to  mine,  yet  needed  and 
defensible : 

In  its  social  development  the  world  is  hindered  by  too 
much  bull-pup. 


263  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

A  bull-pup  is  at  a  disadvantage — socially.  His  social 
development  is  stunted.  The  malignant  wrinkles  of  his  prize- 
fighter face  obstruct  his  vision.  His  outlook  is  restricted. 
Thus  his  notion  of  the  world  is  small.  Hence  the  bull-pup 
is  narrow,  local  and  unsocial.  Being  socially  local  and  mean 
— and  therefore  petty  and  pugnacious — he  enjoys  a  fight. 
In  the  world  of  dogs  he  is  a  tough,  a  "rough-rider"  and  a 
"war-lord."  All  other  dogs  are  "foreigners,"  "guilty,"  and 
"undesirable  citizens." 

Peace  is  too  large  and  fine  for  the  bull-pup.  War  is  "dee- 
lightful,"  "just  bully"— for  the  bull-pup. 

Thus  even  the  humble  dog  v/orld  is  worried  and  hindered 
by  the  socially  narrow  and  pugnaciously  strenuous  bull-pups 
— "great"  and  "successful,"  in  their  estimation. 

Thus  littleness  and  localism  hinder  even  brutes  in  their 
social  development. 

And  it  is  thus  in  the  human  world  also. 
Confucius  was  a  great  man. 

But  Confucius  is  hindered — hindered  by  littleness — little 
Confucians. 

Christ?  Christ  is  great,  fascinatingly,  commandingly 
great. 

But  Christ  is  hindered — hindered  by  the  pettiness  of  pug- 
nacity, hindered  by  littleness,  little  Christians. 
Let  us  be  brothers?    Let  us  have  peace? 
Not  yet.     We  can't.     We  must  wait.     Strange,  but  true, 
we  must  wait  for  the  most  reasonable  thing  in  the  world. — 
peace. 

Peace  is  on  the  program — next  number. 
From  the  warring  tribes  of  the  long,  long  ago,  up,  up,  up- 
ward to  the  federated  races  of  the  world, — that  is  the  first 
number  on  the  program — a  long  steep  climb  for  the  human 
mind,  up,  up  through  the  hundreds  of  centuries,  a  half  mil- 
lion years  consumed  in  expanding  the  human  heart,  in  re- 
fining the  human  affections,  in  strengthening  the  social  vision 
to  see  all  the  way  'round  the  world,  in  widening  the  diameter 
of  Society,  in  creating,  revising,  and  re-creating  a  definition 


GROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  363 

of  "Brother," — the  race  generating  the  Social  Man,  the 
World  Patriot,  the  International  Citizen, 

The  arithmetic  of  history — Given :  Life.  To  find,  or  pro- 
duce, or  deduce,  the  god,  the  god  of  aspiring  intelligence,  the 
god  of  a  socialized  race.  A  puzzling  problem — how  to  sub- 
tract the  brute,  add  the  brother  and  multiply  the  brains ;  how 
to  proceed  to  the  next  number  on  the  program — Peace;  how 
to  move  our  bruised  lips  to  say :  "Put  up  thy  sword.  We  are 
of  one  blood." 

We  are  hindered. 

Brotherhood  and  peace — divinely  high  thought! 

But,  alas !  the  thought  is  too  high  for  low-browed  strenu- 
osity  of  the  tough-rider  type ;  the  thought  is  too  large  and  fine 
for  the  poor  brain  of  a  bull-dog  or  a  human  bully  or  a  so- 
cially blunted  holy  man  or  any  other  breed  of  stunted  runts. 

The  strutting,  thin-brained  rooster  in  the  farmyard  crows, 
"Hurrah  for  this  our  very  own  dunghill,  the  finest  filth 
pile  on  earth."  Thus  this  spurred  and  feathered  patriot  vir- 
tuously cultivates  his  vanity  by  boisterously  challenging  "the 
enemy"  in  the  neighboring  farmyards. 

"Hurrah  for  our  tribe,"  screams  the  savage — patriotically. 

"Hurrah  for  our  village  of  Squeedunk,"  yells  the  local 
human  shrimp.     More  patriotism. 

"Hurrah  for  our  great  city!"  squeals  the  boastfully 
"metropolitan"  small  man  sweltering  in  unspeakable  corrup- 
tions. 

"Hurrah  for  the  nation — right  or  wrong!"  yelps  the  pa- 
triotic national  mongrel. 

And  thus  these  socially  puny  creatures,  these  social  runts, 
stand  ready,  as  it  were,  to  "patriotically"  throw  carbolic  acid 
at  their  national  and  international  neighbors. 

"Hurrah  for  Mankind,  hurrah  for  Life!"  finely  calls  the 
socially  developed  man,  the  Increasing  International  Man. 

Eeally,  reader,  the  narrow-visioned  provincial,  the  local 
sniveling,  the  social  shrimp,  the  pugnacious  nationalist,  the 
racial  bigot,  and  the  stunted,  sacerdotal  manlet — really,  these 
unsocial  people  are,  as  yet,  too  local  and  little  and  narrow  for 
a    federated    world,    for    an    internationally    social    Christ. 


264  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Keally,  these  unsocial  human  runts  can  not  sincerely  and 
effectively  carry  "to  all  the  world"  any  magnificent  social 
gospel  of  "peace  on  earth,  good  will  toward  all  men,"  and 
"make  of  one  blood  all  nations" — even  tho'  they  be  baptized. 

Now  please  do  not  misunderstand  me.  I  do  not  belittle 
the  rite  of  baptism. 

But  baptism  has  no  effect  on  a  declaration  of  war  by  an 
extremely  narrow  local  bull-dog,  whether  he  be  a  humble 
canine  wearing  a  brass  collar,  or  a  strutting  puny  human 
being  wearing  a  "Prince  Albert,"  or  a  lard-and-tallow  mil- 
lionaire worshipping  a  cash-register.  None  of  these  is  emo- 
tionally and  socially  fine.  As  usual,  the  world  is  embar- 
rassed when  trying  to  make  a  silk  purse  of  a  sow's  ear. 

A  Christian  assassin  mounted  on  the  throne  of  Eussia 
remains  an  assassin — in  spite  of  his  baptism. 

A  Christian  bully  elevated  to  the  throne  of  the  German 
Empire  or  to  American  presidential  distinctions,  remains  a 
pugnacious  ruffian,  spoiling  for  trouble,  always  "not  only 
willing  but  anxious  to  fight." 

Sacerdotal  ceremonies  have  no  effect  on  a  leopard's  spots, 
a  tiger's  stripes,  a  bull-pup  disposition,  or  a  cash-register 
ambition. 

War  among  brothers  is  civil  war. 

All  men  are  brothers. 

Therefore  all  war  is  civil  war. 

But  peace  is  hindered  by  local  littleness — especially  by  the 
belittling,  localizing  effects  of  the  sacred  cash-register  and 
its  smaller  unsocial  time-servers. 

The  Confucian  capitalist,  the  Christian  capitalist,  and 
all  other  kinds  of  capitalists  of  the  whole  world  stand 
behind  their  blessed  and  belittling  cash-registers,  plot  in  their 
Wall  Street  dens,  cheating,  cheating,  cheating — and  snarling 
at  one  another.  And  this  unsocial  snarling  is  called  business, 
and  this  Christless  business  is  morally  legitimated,  "made 
respectable,"  by  too  many  unsoeialized  "spiritual  advisers." 
Some  of  the  holy  men  are  finely  social,  nobly  large,  splendidly 
fearless ;  and  these  great  social  souls  refuse,  proudly  refuse,  to 
"sic"  or  urge  the  "dogs  of  war."     But  unfortunately  these 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  365 

truly  greater  holy  men  are  too  few  and  they  are  threatened 
and  bullied  by  the  over-fed,  fat-pursed  industrial  Caesars  in 
the  best  pews  of  the  house  of  God;  and,  moreover,  these 
greater  holy  men  are  abused  and  outvoted  in  the  church  con- 
ventions by  their  less  developed  brethren,  if  they  oppose  a 
war — esjDCcially  if  there  is  a  "national  crisis." 

And  there  is  always  a  "national  crisis"  imminent  when 
greater  markets  must  be  had  and  new  territory  is  to  be 
scrambled  for  by  the  capitalists  of  the  world. 

Whenever  there  is  a  "crisis  on,"  whenever  the  cash-register 
captains,  the  politicians  and  unsocial  "spiritual  leaders"  be- 
lieve, or  announce,  that  there  is  a  "crisis  upon  us," — at  such 
times  Christ,  the  peaceful,  nobly  social  Christ,  is  thrust  to 
the  rear  of  the  stage  and  forced  to  be  silent,  while  the  "fight- 
ing parsons"  and  the  politicians  and  the  money-mongers  and 
some  glory-hunting  buccaneers  rush  to  the  front  of  the  stage 
and  scream  for  war — a  "patriotic  war." 

And  more  and  more  the  actual  necessity  for  a  larger 
foreign  market  produces  a  "crisis/' 

It  is  coming — another  war.* 

Then  for  brotherhood — a  sneer. 

Then  for  the  man  of  peace — a  scornful  "Mollycoddle !" 

Then  for  Christ — coarse  jeers. 

Then  for  markets,  for  profits — blood  and  tears. 

Then  will  the  malignant  manikins  patriotically  and  prof- 
itably shout  for  "national  honor." 

Then  Christ  must  wait. 

Peace  must  wait. 

Brotherhood  must  wait. 

International  federation,  social  grandeur,  the  human 
race,  must  wait. 

All  these  must  wait  for  the  poor  little  fellows  to  get  the 
emotions  of  the  prize-fighter  and  the  savage  heat  and  hate 
of  the  bull-pup  out  of  their  veins;  all  these  must  wait,  too, 
while  the  cash-register  devotee  and  his  man  Friday  get  the 
money — and  "divide  up." 


<<r*- 


*See  Index:   "Another  War." 


266  WAR— WHAT  F0R9 

Possibly,  reader,  some  of  these  paragraphs  seem  unfair. 

Very  well;  perhaps  it  will  seem  fair  to  let  a  clergyman 
speak  with  frankness  on  this  matter.  Here  following  are 
some  paragraphs  from  a  powerful  book.  The  Moral  Damage 
of  War,  by  the  fearless  Dr.  Walter  Walsh,  a  distinguished 
and  eloquent  clergyman  of  Dundee,  Scotland.*  In  the  chap- 
ter, "The  Moral  Damage  of  War  to  the  Preacher,"  Dr.  Walsh 
speaks  to  his  clerical  brethren  with  the  courage  and  direct- 
ness of  the  ancient  Jewish  prophets.  Here  are  some  illus- 
trative paragraphs  (reprinted  with  kind  permission  of  pub- 
lishers) : 

"The  belief  that  Christianity  is  incompatible  with  war,  was 
designed  to  abolish  war  .  .  ,  was  held  by  all  the  Christians  of  the 
first  three  centuries.  .  .  .  Christianity  is  the  religion  of  peace. 
How  then  is  Christendom  still  at  war?  We  naturally  turn  to  the 
professional  teachers  of  religion  for  an  answer. 

"The  paid  teachers  of  Christendom  are  numbered  by  hundreds 
of  thousands:  Priests,  bishops,  ministers,  catechists  and  so  on, — 
while  their  lay  helpers — deacons,  church-wardens,  elders,  Sunday- 
school  teachers,  missioners,  lay  preachers — may  be  counted  by  the 
million  and  it  is  incomprehensible  that  war  should  continue  to 
exist  in  Christendom  unless  by  first  demoralizing  these  formers  of 
religious  opinion.  The  fact  also  that  all  Christian  countries  alike 
compete  in  the  equipment  and  spoils  of  war  can  be  understood  only 
as  a  proof  of  a  corrupt  or  undeveloped  conscience.  The  reason  why 
Christendom  is  today  in  such  straits  and  that  so  many  countries 
wallow  in  debt,  waste,  ignorance,  covetousness,  poverty  and  misery 
imspeakable,  is  chiefly  that  the  paid  teachers  of  Christianity  with 
their  hosts  of  unpaid  assistants  have  capitulated  to  the  war  god.  .  .  . 
War  is  never  pure,  but  is  hell;  and  it  can  never  be  permissible  to 
inaugurate  heaven  by  the  help  of  hell.  .  .  .  Here  and  there  a  smaller 
Elijah  refuses  to  bow  the  knee  to  the  military  Baal,  a  faithful 
Micaiah,  tho'  smitten  on  the  mouth,  continues  to  bear  his  testimony 
to  the  true  significance  of  the  gospel.  .  .  .  'For  centuries  the  church 
met  the  hostility  of  a  pagan  and  unscrupulous  world  and  never 
flinched.  .  .  .  No  revenge  or  bitterness  marred  the  security  of  her 
soul.'  .  .  .  The  appalling  nature  of  the  preacher's  defection  is  seen 
by  the  contrast  with  the  magnificent  opportunity  war  time  aff"ord3 
him,  than  which  prophet  or  apostle  never  had  a  greater.  ...  A 
trial  of  strength  between  conflicting  nations  is  also  a  trial  of  the 
preacher's    moral    character;    the    height    of    noble    opportunity    to 


Published  by  Ginn  and  Company,  New  York. 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  267 

which  it  lifts  him  has  its  counterpart  in  the  base  opportunism  to 
which  he  may  descend.  He  may  temporize  like  a  politician.  ...  He 
may  accept  the  carnal  policies  of  the  parliament  as  limitations  of 
his  gospel  and  hang  his  head  like  a  dumb  dog  when  statesmen  fling 
Christianity  incontinently  out  of  the  house  of  legislation.  He  may 
soothe  his  conscience  with  the  lie  that  war  is  a  matter  of  politics, 
having  nothing  to  do  with  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  slide 
gently  down  into  the  dastard,  blind  equally  to  the  humor  and  the 
atheism  of  his  position.  Between  the  churches  which  cry,  "No 
politics  in  the  gospel!"  and  parliaments  which  cry,  "No  gospel  in 
polities!"  the  Son  of  Man  is  hard  put  to  it  to  maintain  a  footini^ 
in  modern  affairs.  .  .  .  Few  invocations  to  the  Prince  of  Peace  are 
heard  [in  time  of  war],  but  many  to  the  God  of  battles.  .  .  .  The 
conscience  [of  ecclesiasticism]  lies  limp  and  voiceless  before  the 
uplifted  sword,  bribed  by  gold,  paralyzed  by  fear  .  .  .  shielding 
itself.  .  .  .  The  federated  tribes  of  Israel  slink  to  their  tents,  mur- 
muring some  safe  platitudes  about  peace  and  prayer  meetings  whilst 
the  world  triumphs,  the  flesh  riots  and  the  devil  grins  with  infinite 
content.  ...  It  were  hard  to  say  which  is  worse, — the  silence  of  the 
pulpit  or  the  timidity  or  wickedness  of  its  speech  when  it  does 
find  tongue.  ...  A  dumb  dog  is  bad,  but  a  bloodhound  baying  upon 
the  trail  is  worse.  .  .  .  What  is  to  be  said  of  a  preacher,  who,  when 
the  war  spirit  and  the  peace  spirit  are  trembling  in  the  balance, 
either  can  not  speak  or  speaks  only  to  blaspheme  his  own  gospel? 
.  .  .  It  can  not  be  doubted  that  the  church,  exerting  herself  in  ac- 
cordance with  her  principles,  could  make  all  bloodshed  impossible, 
and  could  have  averted  every  war  of  recent  times;  yet  on  many 
such  occasions  the  multitude  of  ministers  stir  no  finger,  preach  no 
sermon,  sign  no  petition,  sound  no  note  that  the  government,  will- 
ing enough  to  know  the  temper  of  a  nation,  can  interpret  as  hostile 
to  their  project.  .  .  .  The  appalling  truth  has  to  be  faced:  that  the 
church,  contrary  to  every  expectation  that  might  be  formed  from 
her  principles  and  the  character  of  the  Being  she  worships,  is 
always,  as  a  whole,  for  the  war  of  the  day.  It  is  true  that  when 
peace  is  the  popular  cry,  the  preachers  are  also  for  peace.  If  there 
is  a  peace  crusade  on  hand  which  excites  the  shallow  enthusiasms 
of  the  fashionables,  the  preachers  will  also  catch  the  excitements  of 
the  hour;  but  when  the  white  banner  yields  to  the  red,  the  pastors 
beat  the  drums  for  the  fighters  as  furiously  as  they  had  previously 
denounced  the  savagery  of  armed  conflict.  .  .  .  Organized  Christian- 
ity divests  herself  of  her  robe  of  righteousness  and  her  garments 
of  meek  humility  to  clothe  herself  in  khaki.  ...  A  thousand  pulpits 
are  manned  by  Bible  bullies  who  cite  every  obsolete  and  bloody  prec- 
edent of  the  wars  of  the  Jews  and  show  themselves  destitute  of 
the  elementary  humanities  and  of  the  faculties  necessary  to  dis- 
criminate between  Judaism  two  thousand  years  before  Christ  and 


268  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Christianity  two  thousand  years  after  him.  .  .  .  What  can  mankind 
do  with  a  church  that  jjeels  itself  like  a  pugilist  and  reveals  the 
murdering  pagan  instead  of  the  martyred  Christian;  which  for 
carnal  reasons  cancels  the  Sermon  [on  the  Mount],  contradicts  the 
Beatitudes,  flatly  denies  the  gospel,  repudiates  every  specific 
Christly  ideal,  and  unseats  Jesus  in  order  to  elevate  Mars  to  the 
throne  of  conscience?  ...  At  frequent  intervals  the  cross  with  its 
suffering  victim  recedes  and  out  of  the  blood-red  mist  emerges  the 
foul  idol  of  war  erect  on  his  crimson  chariot.  .  .  .  The  sanctification 
of  revenge  is,  indeed,  the  vilest  function  performed  by  a  war- 
poisoned,  blood-stained  church.  ...  It  is  thus  that  the  masses  are 
kept  from  seeing  the  degenerate  nature  of  the  thing.  .  .  .  Their 
pastors  lead  them  into  the  blood-red  fields  of  Jahveh  when  the 
politicians  give  the  word,  and  into  the  green  pastures  of  the  Naza- 
rene  only  when  there  is  no  national  scheme  of  murder  and  robbery 
afoot.  .  .  .  The  churches  as  they  are  today  can  not  prevent  war. 
Their  palsied  lips  can  not  echo,  however  feebly,  the  words  of  the 
master,  'Put  up  again  thy  sword  into  its  place!'  There  is  not 
spiritual  power  left  in  organized  Christianity  to  insure  the  sub- 
stitution of  reason  for  brute  force.  .  •  .  Alas!  it  has  hitherto  been 
impossible  to  get  Christianity  to  obey  Christ."* 

That  is  the  language  of  a  brave  Christian  preacher.  In 
connection  with  the  reverend  Doctor  Walsh's  chastisement  of 
the  church  in  the  morning  of  the  twentieth  century  it  is  in- 
teresting to  read  on  the  same  subject  the  words  of  a  philos- 
opher of  the  eighteenth  century,  Voltaire.f 

"This  universal  rage  which  devours  the  world.  .  .  .  The  most 
wonderful  part  of  this  infernal  enterprise  [war]  is,  that  each  chief 
of  murderers  causes  his  colors  to  be  blest,  and  solemnly  invokes 
God  before  he  goes  to  exterminate  liis  neighbors.  ...  A  certain 
number  of  orators  are  everywhere  paid  to  celebrate  these  murderous 
days.  .  .  .  All  of  them  speak  for  a  long  time,  and  quote  that  which 
was  done  of  old  in  Palestine.  .  .  .  The  rest  of  the  year  these  people 
declaim  against  vices.  .  .  .  All  the  united  vices  of  all  ages  and  places 
will  never  equal  the  evils  produced  by  a  single  campaign.  Miserable 
physicians  of  souls!  you  exclaim  for  five  quarters  of  an  hour  on 
some  pricks  of  a  pin,  and  say  nothing  on  the  malady  which  tears  us 
into  a  thousand  pieces.  .  .  .  Can  there  be  anything  more  horrible 
throughout  nature?" 

And  now  let  us  get  at  this  matter  from  the  point  of  view 


*  Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 

f  Voltaire's  Philosophical  Dictionary. 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.  269 

of  a  political  economist,  a  rcall}^  great  economist,  John  A. 
Hobson — who  puts  the  case  thus  :* 

"When  has  a  Christian  nation  ever  entered  on  a  war  which  has 
not  been  regarded  by  the  official  priesthood  as  a  sacred  war?  In  Eng- 
land the  State  Church  has  never  permitted  the  spirit  of  the  Prince 
of  Peace  to  interfere  when  statesmen  and  soldiers  appealed  to  the 
passions  of  race-lust,  conquest  and  revenge.  Wars,  the  most  insane 
in  origin,  the  most  barbarous  in  execution,  the  most  fruitless  in 
results  have  never  failed  to  get  the  sanction  of  the  Christian 
Churches.  .  .  .  There  is  no  record  of  the  clergy  of  any  Church  having 
failed  to  bless  a  popular  war,  to  find  reasons  for  representing  it  as  a 
crusade." 

The  following  lines  from  a  British  philosopher,  Frederic 
Harrison,t  are  to  the  point  for  the  workingman's  instruc- 
tion: 

"The  oflScial  priests  of  the  old  faiths  accept  without  questioning 
the  authorized  judgment  of  the  political  government.  They  are 
engaged  ...  in  calling  upon  their  God  of  Battles  (can  it  be,  their 
God  of  Mercy?)  to  keep  the  British  soldiers — the  invaders,  the 
burners  of  villages,  the  hangmen  of  [native]  priests — in  his  good 
and  holy  keeping.  ...  A  system  of  slavery  prepares  the  slave- 
holding  caste  for  any  inhumanity  that  may  seem  to  defend  it.  .  .  . 
If  it  hardens  our  politicians,  it  degrades  our  churches.  The  thirst 
for  rule,  the  greed  of  the  market,  and  the  saving  of  souls,  all  work 
together  in  accord.  The  Churches  approve  and  bless  whilst  the 
warriors  and  the  merchants  are  adding  new  provinces  to  empire; 
they  have  delivered  the  heathen  to  the  secular  arm.  .  .  .  Christianity 
in  practice,  as  we  know  it  now,  for  all  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount, 
is  the  religion  of  aggression,  domination,  combat.  It  waits  upon  the 
pushing  trader  and  the  lawless  conqueror;  and  with  obsequious 
thanksgiving  it  blesses  his  enterprise." 

Who,  indeed,  shall  deliver  us  from  war? 

Our  pastors  ? 

Hardly. 

The  pastors'  economic  masters  will  not  permit  them  to 
do  so. 

Tho'  the  machine  guns  mow  down  a  million  of  the  world's 
choicest  working  men,  pile  up  windrows  of  human  carcasses 


*  The  Psychology  of  Jingoism,  pp.  41,  133. 
■{■  National  and  Social  Problems,  pp.  252-53. 


270  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

and  desolate  the  huts,  flats,  hovels  and  "homes"  of  the  poor; 
tho'  ten  million  pairs  of  calloused  hands  of  agonizing  working 
class  women  be  stretched  toward  well-fed,  comfortable  pastors, 
begging  for  a  united,  effective  declaration  against  war;  tho' 
these  ten  million  humble  working  class  mothers,  their  eyes 
streaming  with  tears,  on  their  knees  beseech  the  "holy  men  of 
God"  to  unitedly  cry  aloud  against  the  accursed  "Death's 
feast"  where  their  dear  ones  are  devoured;  tho'  multitudes  of 
little  working  class  children  in  mute  despair  dread  the  roar 
of  the  belching  cannon  that  slay  their  fathers  and  brothers; 
still  the  pastors  (most  of  them)  will  "stand  by  the  adminis- 
tration" in  any  and  all  wars,  as  usual. 

"The  administration,"  "the  government,"  under  capital- 
ism, is  simply  the  executive  committee  of  the  capitalist  class. 

The  capitalist  class  are  internationally  struggling  for  the 
world  market. 

In  these  international  struggles  the  capitalists  need  the 
support  of  public  opinion. 

Public  opinion  can  be  created  and  controlled  by  the 
pastor. 

The  pastor  must  therefore  be  controlled  by  the  capitalist. 

The  campaign  begins — to  capture  the  market  and  the 
minister. 

The  soldier  goes  to  war  and  the  capitalist  goes  to  church. 

The  soldier  takes  a  gun,  the  capitalist  takes  gold. 

The  soldier  slays. 

The  capitalist  prays — by  proxy. 

Being  "the  will  of  God"  it  is,  of  course,  "mysterious." 

The  capitalist  occupies  the  very  best  pew  in  the  house  of 
God — and  lays  beautiful  bankbills  in  the  collection  plate. 

The  minister  is  embarrassed — and  impressed. 

The  pastor  and  his  master  divide  up. 

The  war?    Isn't  war  hell? 

It  beats  hell. 

But  it  is  "all  for  the  best" — mysteriously. 

With  conscience  "seared  as  with  a  hot  iron"  the  preacher 
joins  the  politician;  and  the  precious  pair  unite  their  rented 
voices  in  patriotic  melody  in  support  of  the  capitalist  class. 


CROSS,  CANNON,  CASH-REGISTER.         271 

Brother, — you  of  the  working  class, — Jew,  Eoman  Catho- 
lic, Greek  Catholic,  Protestant,  peaceful  Buddhist  or  peaceful 
Confucian,  or  what  else, — wherever  you  are,  whatever  you 
are  in  religion,  worshipping,  searching,  groping  through  the 
universe  for  God,  worship  as  you  prefer,  worship  whom  you 
prefer:  I  do  not  seek  to  break  your  church  allegiance.  But, 
sir,  to  save  your  life,  to  save  your  own  wife's  tears,  to  defend 
your  own  children,  to  protect  your  own  working  class,  I  do 
wish  to  have  you  realize  distinctly  that: — 

The  working  class  must  draw  the  bayonet  from  its  own 
breast.  So  far  as  war  is  concerned  the  working  class  must 
band  together  and  stand  together  against  war.  The  working 
class  must  themselves  protect  the  working  class  against  the 
industrial  system  through  which  they  are  robbed  and  be- 
trayed. 

The  workers  of  the  world  need  a  political  party  of  their 
own  class — and  as  wide  as  the  world,  International,  and  com- 
mitted to  justice  and  therefore  to  peace. 

Listen  to  the  confession  of  the  editor  of  a  very  powerful 

capitalist  newspaper: 

"It  is  significant  that  the  Socialists  of  different  races,  and 
speaking  different  tongues,  strangers  in  blood  and  customs,  in  Ger- 
many, France,  Great  Britain,  Austria,  and  Italy,  constitute  the 
one  great  peace  party  of  the  world."* 

Ldsten  again — to  the  best-known  and  the  best  loved  Chris- 
tian woman  in  the  United  States,  Miss  Jane  Addams,  of 
Hull  House,  Chicago:! 

"The  Socialists  are  making  almost  the  sole  attempt  to  preach 
a  morality  sufftciently  all-embracing  and  international  to  keep  pace 
with  even  the  material  internationalism  which  has  standardized 
[even]  the  threads  of  screws  and  the  size  of  bolts,  so  that  machines 
become  interchangeable  from  one  country  to  another.  .  .  .  Exist- 
ing commerce  has  long  ago  reached  its  international  stage,  but  it 
has  been  the  result  of  business  aggression  and  constantly  appeals 
for  military  defense  and  for  the  forcing  of  new  markets." 

You,  you  who  are  to  be  tricked  and  shot  at  the  factory  door 

•The  New  York  World,  editorial,  August  15,  1907.  Italics 
mine.    G.  R.  K, 

■\  Newer  Ideals  of  Peace,  pp.  114-15.    Italics  mine.      G.  R.  K. 


272  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

and  on  the  battlefield,  go  to  your  public  library  and  get 
Christianity  and  the  Social  Order,  and  read  there  the  words 
of  a  preacher  great  enough  for  the  City  Temple  of  London, 
great  enough  to  be  the  worthy  successor  of  the  world-known 
Joseph  Parker,  read  the  Reverend  Dr.  E.  J.  Campbell's 
splendid  tribute  to  the  Socialist  Party  as  the  only  political 
party  in  the  world  today  scorning  the  belittling  jealousies  of 
capitalist  statesmen  and  working  effectively  for  international 
brotherhood. 

Eeader,  you  working  class  reader,  a  special  word  here: 

Perhaps  your  working  class  neighbor's  son  is  at  this  mo- 
ment falling  into  a  patriotic  trance,  gullibly  planning  to 
join  the  local  militia  or  the  standing  army  or  the  navy,  medi- 
tating on  butcheries.  Go  to  him.  With  a  firm  grasp  on 
his  mind  (if  he  has  one)  wake  him,  rouse  him,  from  that 
race-cursing  dream,  rouse  him  from  the  spell  that  for  thou- 
sands of  years  has  damned  his  class.  Be  kind.  Be  patient. 
But — wake  him.  Wake  him  for  the  world  movement  for  the 
working  class.  Wahe  him  for  the  war — the  war  without  a 
sword,  the  war  without  a  cannon;  the  war  with  a  printing 
press,  the  war  with  a  book.  Teach  him  that  salvation  is 
through  information.  Teach  him  that  the  "truth  will  make 
him  free."  In  his  brain  kindle  a  fire,  a  divine  unrest,  a  desire 
that  can  not  die,  the  desire  for  peace  born  of  justice. 

Otherwise,  beware  lest  your  neighbor's  son  be  wheedled 
at  any  moment  into  the  militia  or  the  standing  army  or  the 
navy — ready  to  be  consecrated,  sanctified,  blessed, — for  whole- 
sale assassination,  ready  as  a  militiaman,  as  a  Cossack,  as  a 
soldier,  to  stain  his  consecrated  sword  with  the  blood  of  his 
neighbors  and  brutally — patriotically — laugh  at  the  tears  of 
women  and  children. 

Read  to  your  neighbor  the  next  Chapter:  "Now,  What 
Shall  We  Do  About  It?" 


■if 


CHAPTER  TEN. 
Now  What  Shall  We  Do  About  It? 

"No  people  will  toil  and  sweat  to  keep  a  class  in  idleness 
unless  cajoled  or  compelled  to  do  so.  .  .  .  There  are  various  devices 
by  means  of  which  a  body  of  persons  may  sink  their  fangs  into  their 
fellows  and  subsist  upon  them.  Slavery  ...  is  the  primary  form  of 
the  parasitic  relation.  By  modifying  this  into  serfdom  the  para- 
sitic class,  without  the  least  abating  its  power  of  securing  its  nour- 
ishment from  others,  places  itself  in  a  position  more  convenient 
to  it  and  less  irritating  to  the  exploited.  .  .  .  Finally,  the  insti- 
tution of  property  is  so  shaped  as  to  permit  a  slanting  exploitation 
under  which  a  class  is  able  to  live  in  idleness.  The  parasitic  class 
is  always  a  ruling  class,  and  utilizes  as  many  as  it  can  of  the  means 
of  control." — Professor  Edward  A.  Ross,  Department  of  Sociology, 
University  of  Wisconsin.* 

"The  various  institutions,  political,  ecclesiastical,  professional, 
industrial,  etc.,  including  the  government,  are  devices,  means, 
gradually  brought  into  existence,  to  serve  interests  that  develop 
within  the  State." — Professor  Albion  W.  Small,  Head  of  Department 
of  Sociology,  University  of  Chicago.f 

"The  non-industrial  or  parasitic  classes  are  often  the  most 
active.  •  .  .  They  are  wonderfully  successful  in  creating  the  helief 
that  they  are  the  most  important  of  all  the  social  elements." — Dr. 
Lester  F.  Ward,  Department  of  Sociology,  Brown  University.J 

The  preceding  chapters  have,  it  is  hoped,  been  of  some 
assistance  to  the  reader  in  realizing  in  what  unqualified  con- 
tempt the  working  class  are  held  in  our  boasted  civilized 
society, — how  utterly  the  working  class  are  tricked  and  be- 
trayed, brutalized  and  bled,  degraded  and  despised,  robbed, 
starved  and  stung, — their  flesh  torn,  their  blood  spilt,  their 
bodies  tossed  to  the  buzzards  and  grave-worms,  and  even  the 
widows  and  orphans  insulted  with  thirty  dirty  pieces  of  silver 
in  payment  for  the  life  and  love  and  joy  lost  in  war.  Hav- 
ing tried  to  make  this,  and  more,  clear,  now  let  me  explain 
"what  to  do  about  it." 


*  Social  Control,  pp.  376-79.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 

■f  General  Sociology,  p.  233. 

t  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  p.  582.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 


374  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

What,  indeed,  shall  the  working  class  do  to  rid  themselves 
of  the  curse  called  war? 

We  can  do  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  with  sweeping 
effectiveness,  till  we  understand  the  industrial  structure  and 
purpose  of  the  present  order  of  society,  and,  as  a  class,  also 
understand  the  art  of  self-defense — political  and  industrial 
class-defense. 

Eepeatedly  in  preceding  chapters  I  have  written  of  two 
classes. 

Are  there  indeed  two  classes? 

Get  distinctly  in  mind  the  three  following  propositions 
stating  the  three  largest  facts  of  all  concerning  the  present 
order  of  society: 

First  Proposition:  In  the  present  capitalist  form  so- 
ciety is  divided  into  two  classes,  two  industrial  classes:  the 
capitalist  class  and  the  working  class. 

Second  Proposition:  Industrially,  society  is  organized 
and  managed  for  the  special  benefit  of  part  of  society — for 
one  class,  the  capitalist  class. 

Third  Proposition:  Each  of  these  two  classes  has  in- 
dustrial interests  as  a  class;  these  class  interests  conflict ;  and 
there  is,  therefore,  as  a  part  of  and  because  of  the  class  form 
of  society,  a  constant  class  conflict,  a  class  struggle. 

Let  me  try  to  make  these  three  propositions  clear.  Please 
note  carefully  the  exact  wording  of  the  propositions  to  be 
explained. 

The  explanation, — first  proposition: 

Of  course  you  wish  to  live  and  be  comfortable.  To  live 
and  be  comfortable  you  must  consume  useful  things.  But 
before  you  can  consume  useful  things  they  must  be  produced. 
And  since  this  is  true  of  all  the  members  of  society  it  is 
readily  seen  that  the  first  task  of  society,  the  primary  social 
function,  is  production. 

Production,  industry,  is  the  foundation  of  society. 

Now,  in  performing  this  industrial  work,  in  doing  this 
first  thing,  we  use  raw  materials,  mines,  forests,  fields,  mills, 
factories,   tools,   machinery,   railways,   etc.,   etc.;    and   these 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  375 

things  are  called  the  means  of  production.  We  make  use 
of  these  things,  these  means  of  production,  in  applying  our 
labor-power — that  is,  in  producing  the  things  society  wishes 
to  consume. 

But:— 

One  class  privately  own  the  coal  mines  and  iron  mines 
and  buy  labor-power; 

The  other  class  work  in  the  coal  mines  and  iron  mines 
and  sell  labor-power. 

One  class  privately  own  lumber  forests  and  marble 
quarries,  and  buy  labor-power; 

The  other  class  work  in  the  lumber  forests  and  marble 
quarries,  and  sell  labor-power. 

One  class  privately  own  cotton  mills,  steel  mills,  and 
flour  mills,  etc.,  and  buy  labor-power. 

The  other  class  work  in  cotton  mills,  steel  mills,  and  flour 
mills,  etc.,  and  sell  labor-power. 

One  class  privately  own  railroads  and  buy  labor-power; 

The  other  class  work  on  railroads  and  sell  labor-power. 

Or,  to  say  it  briefly. 

One  class,  the  capitalist  class,  privately  own  the  chief 
material  means  of  production — and  buy  labor-power. 

The  other  class,  the  working  class,  use  the  chief  material 
means  of  production — and  sell  labor  power. 

Surely  you  can  see  that  there  are  two  industrial  classes. 

There  are,  under  capitalism,  not  only  two  industrial  classes, 
but  also  two  social  classes.     Industrial  classes  become  social  classes. 

Johan  Kaspar  Bluntschli,  one  of  Germany's  most  eminent  writers 
on  political  science,  has  this  to  say: 

"Classes  have  very  often  been  founded  on  the  basis  of  property. 
In  these  constitutions  .  .  .  property  becomes  the  determining  political 
force,  and  citizens  are  valued  by  amount  of  their  income.  .  .  .  The 
Proletariate  .  .  .  consists  mainly  of  the  waste  of  other  classes,  of 
those  fractions  of  the  population  who,  by  their  isolation  and  their 
poverty,  have  no  place  in  the  established  order  of  society."  [That  is, 
they  are  in  no  commanding  relation  to  the  industrially  vital  prop- 
erty.]* 


See  The  Theory  of  the  State,  Bk.  II.,  Chs.  17,  18. 


276  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

"Conversely,  social  rank  depends  on  economic  conditions;  tlie 
state  is  made  .  .  •  conservative  ...  by  the  economic  interests  at  its 
foundation.  .  .  . 

"Perhaps  its  [property's]  most  important  social  eflFect  has 
come  to  be  the  fact  that  the  possession  of  property  is  so  generally 
the  basis  of  social  differentiation.  In  earlier  times,  physical  force, 
later,  institutions  of  caste,  were  the  basis  of  differentiation  in  so- 
ciety; wealth  is  the  most  universally  recognized  source  of  power, 
so  that  social  rank  is  often  determined  by  the  possession  of  wealth." 
— Professor  Fairbanks,  Yale  University.* 

And  now  the  second  proposition:  Are  these  industries 
and  the  other  industries  really  operated  for  the  special  bene- 
fit of  part  of  society?  The  answer  is  clear  in  the  following 
illustration  : 

If  the  profits  on  all  these  industries  should,  during  the 
next  twelve  months,  rise  two  billion  dollars  higher  than  usual, 
would  the  wages  of  the  workers  engaged  in  these  industries  be 
increased  in  that  proportion?  Most  certainly  they  would  not. 
You  know  very  well  they  would  not.  But  why  not?  Simply 
because  these  industries,  like  all  other  industries,  are,  under 
capitalism,  operated  for  the  special  benefit  of  those,  the  capi- 
talist class,  who  privately  own  these  industries  and  buy  labor- 
power,  and,  by  this  arrangement,  live  on  profits, — on  sur- 
plus value.f 

And,  finally,  the  third  proposition :  Do  the  industrial  in- 
terests of  these  two  industrial  classes  fundamentally  conflict? 
Perhaps  the  answer  will  be  clear  in  the  following  homely 
illustration : 

If  you  are  selling  a  horse,  you  wish  to  sell  him  for — say 
$300.  But  the  buyer  of  the  horse  wishes  to  buy  the  horse  for, 
say,  $150. 

Clearly  there  is  a  conflict  of  interests  between  the  buyer  of 
the  horse  and  the  seller  of  the  horse. 

A  wage-earner  selling  labor-power  wishes  to  sell,  say,  eight 
hours  labor-power  for  $6. 

The  capitalist  employer  buying  labor-power  wishes  to  buy. 


\ 

f 


*  Introduction  to  Sociology,  pp.  132-36. 
•{■  See  Chapter  Three,  The  Explanation. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  277 

say,  nine  hours  labor-power  for  $2.50 — in  order  to  get  the 
surplus  value — that  fascinating  surplus. 

Thus  there  is  a  fundamental  conflict  between  the  in- 
dustrial interests  of  this  buyer  of  labor  power  and  the  in- 
dustrial interests  of  this  seller  of  labor-power. 

And  it  is  just  so  with  the  two  industrial  classes. 

There  is  a  fundamental  conflict  of  industrial  interests  be- 
tween the  employer  class  buying  labor-power  and  the  work- 
ing class  selling  labor-power. 

Between  these  two  industrial  classes  there  is  a  struggle, 
a  class  struggle — to  defend  their  conflicting  industrial  in- 
terests. 

This  class  struggle  takes  on  many  different  forms — but 
it  is  always  the  same  thing  down  at  the  bottom — a  class 
struggle  in  industry. 

The  three  propositions  explained  above  are  most  im- 
portant. A  clear  understanding  of  these  three  propositions 
always — always — revolutionizes  the  'political  thinking  of  the 
working  class  man,  or  woman,  who  has  not,  before,  under- 
stood them.  These  three  truths  destroy  old  political  preju- 
dices and  customs,  cut  the  reins  by  which  the  political  trick- 
sters misguide  the  workers,  clear  the  air  of  "hot  air,"  reveal 
the  blind  alleys  of  old  party  politics,  point  the  road  to  power 
and  freedom  for  the  working  class,  and  make  a  rock-bot- 
tom foundation  for  a  working  class  political  philosophy  and 
policy  and  tactics. 

The  capitalist  class  {who  rule  and  ruin  the  toilers)  re- 
gard these  three  truths  as  more  dangerous  than  any  other,  or 
all  other,  teachings  that  ever  reach  the  working  class  mind. 
It  is  to  the  capitalists'  interest  that  the  workers  should  not 
learn  these  three  truths.  But  it  is  to  the  interest  of  the  work- 
ing  class  that  the  working  class  should  learn  these  three 
truths. 

With  these  three  primary  facts  of  present  society  clearly 
in  mind  let  us  proceed. 

In  addition  to  their  powerful  position  as  capitalist 
OWNERS  OE  THE.  MEAIsTS.  oj  PR.ODUc.xi.ON,  the  Capitalist  class. 


278  WAB—WHAT  FOR? 

have  three  special  advantages  over  the  working  chiss  in  this 
class  struggle: 

(1)  The  caj^italist  class  are  more  class  conscious  than 
the  working  class  are — at  present.  That  is,  the  capitalists 
more  distinctly  realize  that,  as  capitalists,  they  constitute  a 
class — with  class  interests  to  defend. 

(2)  The  capitalists,  because  they  are  more  class  con- 
scious, are,  naturally,  more  class  loyal  than  the  working  class 
are — at  present.  In  obedience  to  the  biological  law  of  self- 
preservatioti,  a  class,  as  well  as  an  individual,  will  defend 
themselves,  as  a  class — that  is,  will  be  class  loyal — in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  class  conscious,  or  in  proportion  as  they  are 
aware  of  and  understand  the  interests  of  their  class.  Tho' 
the  capitalists  understand  that  they  are  a  class  with  class 
interests,  they  are  always  cooing  softly  to  all  workers  who  are 
ignorant  enough  to  listen,  cooing  sweetly  about  "no  classes," 
"all  in  the  same  boat,"  "harmony  of  interests,"  "Capital  and 
Labor  are  brothers,"  etc. 

(3)  The  capitalists  study  tactics  of  class  warfare — 
tactics  of  industrial  struggle,  far  more  than  the  working  class 
do — at  present.  Being  more  class  conscious  and  therefore 
more  class  loyal  and  consequently  more  eager,  as  a  class,  for 
self-defense,  the  capitalist  class  naturally  study  more  pa- 
tiently the  ways  and  means  for  their  own  class  defense.  And 
because  they  do  study  more  they  really  know  more — at  present 
— about  politics,  about  the  game  called  the  class  struggle, 
about  the  art  of  self-defense,  class  defense  in  industry.* 

In  all  the  modern  forms  of  this  unhappy  class  struggle, 
one  phase  of  which  is  called  war,  the  capitalist  class  are  awake 
and  watchful,  united  and  victorious — seated  in  the  saddle 
of  power  at  the  head  of  the  procession;  and  the  working 
class  are  drowsy  and  confused,  divided  and  defeated — limp- 


*  "Classes  differ  in  readiness  to  twist  social  control  to  their 
own  advantage.  ...  In  general,  the  more  distinct,  knit  together, 
and  self-conscious  the  influential  minority,  the  more  likely  is  social 
control  to  be  colored  witli  class  selfishness." — Professor  E.  A.  Ross, 
Department  of  Sociology,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Social  Control, 
p.  86. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  279 

ing  afoot  and  ridiculous  at  the  tail  end  of  the  grand  march  of 
the  world's  affairs. 

All  great  military  leaders  in  all  wars — in  all  struggles — 
in  all  time  have  always  used  the  two  following  tactics : 

First:  Divide  the  enemy,  if  possible,  and  have  them 
crush  one  another;  or, 

Second:  If  circumstances  hinder  the  first  tactics,  then 
divide  the  enemy  and  crush  them  one  part  at  a  time. 

And  the  captains  of  industry,  the  capitalists,  right  now 
employ  these  tactics  with  success.  They  themselves  band 
together,  but  they  divide  and  rule  the  working  class.  More 
class  conscious,  more  class  loyal  and  more  studious  of  the 
ways  and  means  of  struggle  than  the  working  class  are,  the 
capitalist  class  proceed  as  follows : 

(A)  On  the  Economic  Field  the  capitalists  divide  the 
working  class  and  have  them  fight  one  another;  and  thus  the 
capitalist  class  are  easily  able  to  defeat  and  fleece  the  work- 
ers all  the  time,  everywhere.  The  workers,  having  no  part 
in  the  ownership  of  the  means  of  production  and  being  thus 
divorced  from  a  commanding  relation  to  the  economic  founda- 
tions of  society,  craftily  fooled  with  false  teaching  of  "capital- 
and-labor-harmony-of-interests,"  sore  and  humble  with  dis- 
appointment, whipped  with  the  lash  of  hunger,  stung  to  des- 
peration, confused  and  traduced  by  bribed  pets,  spies  and 
traitors, — the  workers  angrily,  blindly,  split  up  into  jealous 
groups,  shamefully  turn  against  one  another,  fight  one  an- 
other, under-bid  one  another,  "scab"  on  one  another,  desert 
one  another, — defeat  one  another.  Moreover  one  part  of  the 
working  class  is  flattered  and  cheaply  bribed  into  volunteer- 
ing to  organize  and  arm  themselves  and  proudly  stand  guard 
over  their  brothers  and  against  their  brothers;  and  thus  the 
workers  spy  and  inform  on  one  another,  arrest  one  another, 
jail  one  another,  "bull  pen"  one  another,  bayonet  one 
another  and  shoot  one  another — under  the  capitalist  sys- 
tem— the  present  class-labor  system. 

The  working  class,  of  course,  are  thus  easily  defeated  and 
robbed  industrially. 


278  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

have  three  special  advantages  over  the  working  class  in  this 
class  struggle: 

(1)  The  capitalist  class  are  more  class  conscious  than 
the  working  class  are — at  present.  That  is,  the  capitalists 
more  distinctly  realize  that,  as  capitalists,  they  constitute  a 
class — with  class  interests  to  defend. 

(2)  The  capitalists,  because  they  are  more  class  con- 
scious, are,  naturally,  more  class  loyal  than  the  working  class 
are — at  present.  In  obedience  to  the  biological  laiv  of  self- 
preservation,  a  class,  as  well  as  an  individual,  will  defend 
themselves,  as  a  class — that  is,  will  be  class  loyal — in  propor- 
tion as  they  are  class  conscious,  or  in  proportion  as  they  are 
aware  of  and  understand  the  interests  of  their  class.  Tho' 
the  capitalists  understand  that  they  are  a  class  with  class 
interests,  they  are  always  cooing  softly  to  all  workers  who  are 
ignorant  enough  to  listen,  cooing  sweetly  about  "no  classes," 
"all  in  the  same  boat,"  "harmony  of  interests,"  "Capital  and 
Labor  are  brothers,"  etc. 

(3)  The  capitalists  study  tactics  of  class  warfare — 
tactics  of  industrial  struggle,  far  more  than  the  working  class 
do — at  present.  Being  more  class  conscious  and  therefore 
more  class  loyal  and  consequently  more  eager,  as  a  class,  for 
self-defense,  the  capitalist  class  naturally  study  more  pa- 
tiently the  ways  and  means  for  their  own  class  defense.  And 
because  they  do  study  more  they  really  Icnoiv  more — at  present 
— about  politics,  about  the  game  called  the  class  struggle, 
about  the  art  of  self-defense,  class  defense  in  industry* 

In  all  the  modern  forms  of  this  unhappy  class  struggle, 
one  phase  of  which  is  called  war,  the  capitalist  class  are  awake 
and  watchful,  united  and  victorious — seated  in  the  saddle 
of  power  at  the  head  of  the  procession;  and  the  working 
class  are  drowsy  and  confused,  divided  and  defeated — limp- 


*  "Classes  diflfer  in  readiness  to  twist  social  control  to  their 
own  advantage.  ...  In  general,  the  more  distinct,  knit  together, 
and  self-conscious  the  influential  minority,  the  more  likely  is  social 
control  to  be  colored  with  class  selfishness." — Professor  E.  A.  Ross, 
Department  of  Sociology,  University  of  Wisconsin,  Social  Control, 
p.  86. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  279 

ing  afoot  and  ridiculous  at  the  tail  end  of  the  grand  march  of 
the  world's  affairs. 

All  great  military  leaders  in  all  wars — in  all  struggles — 
in  all  time  have  always  used  the  two  following  tactics : 

First:  Divide  the  enemy,  if  possible,  and  have  them 
crush  one  another;  or. 

Second:  If  circumstances  hinder  the  first  tactics,  then 
divide  the  enemy  and  crush  them  one  part  at  a  time. 

And  the  captains  of  industry,  the  capitalists,  right  now 
employ  these  tactics  with  success.  They  themselves  band 
together,  but  they  divide  and  rule  the  working  class.  More 
class  conscious,  more  class  loyal  and  more  studious  of  the 
ways  and  means  of  struggle  than  the  working  class  are,  the 
capitalist  class  proceed  as  follows: 

(A)  On  the  Economic  Field  the  capitalists  divide  the 
working  class  and  have  them  fight  one  another;  and  thus  the 
capitalist  class  are  easily  able  to  defeat  and  fleece  the  work- 
ers all  the  time,  everywhere.  The  workers,  having  no  part 
in  the  ownership  of  the  means  of  production  and  being  thus 
divorced  from  a  commanding  relation  to  the  economic  founda- 
tions of  society,  craftily  fooled  with  false  teaching  of  "capital- 
and-labor-harmony-of-interests,"  sore  and  humble  with  dis- 
appointment, whipped  with  the  lash  of  hunger,  stung  to  des- 
peration, confused  and  traduced  by  bribed  pets,  spies  and 
traitors, — the  workers  angrily^  blindly,  split  up  into  jealous 
groups,  shamefully  turn  against  one  another,  fight  one  an- 
other, under-bid  one  another,  "scab"  on  one  another,  desert 
one  another, — defeat  one  another.  Moreover  one  part  of  the 
working  class  is  flattered  and  cheaply  bribed  into  volunteer- 
ing to  organize  and  arm  themselves  and  proudly  stand  guard 
over  their  brothers  and  against  their  brothers;  and  thus  the 
workers  spy  and  inform  on  one  another,  arrest  one  another, 
jail  one  another,  "bull  pen"  one  another,  bayonet  one 
another  and  shoot  one  another — under  the  capitalist  sys- 
tem— the  present  class-labor  system. 

The  working  class,  of  course,  are  thus  easily  defeated  and 
robbed  industrially. 


282  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

This  form  of  society  may  properly  be  called  an  industrial 
democracy. 

The  purpose  of  this  form  of  society  is  the  welfare  of  all 
the  members  of  society. 

Under  this  form  of  society  there  would  be  no  industrial 
classes;  and  therefore,  class  robbery  would  not  be  and  could 
not  be  organized,  legalized  and  easy. 

Second  Possible  Form  of  Social  Organization:  On 
the  Plan  of  Antagonism — that  is,  with  a  CZass-Labor  System 
— under  which  the  industrial  foundations  of  society  are 
PRIVATE  PROPERTY, — privately  owned  by  one  class  and  pro- 
ductively used  by  the  other  class. 

Society  can,  indeed,  be  organized  for  the  performance  of 
this  great  industrial  function  of  production  on  the  plan  of  a 
class-labor  system — one  part  of  society  being  in  the  strategic 
position  of  industrial  masters,  a  ruling  class,  their  mastery 
being  due  to  the  fact  that  they  own  as  private  property  the 
chief  material  means  of  production; — the  other  part  of  so- 
ciety being  in  the  helpless  position  of  industrial  dependents,  a 
working  class, — their  industrial  dependence  being  due  to  the 
fact  that  they  have  no  effective  share  in  the  ownership  and 
control  of  the  chief  material  means  of  production. 

This  form  of  society  we  may  properly  call  an  industrial 
despotism. 

The  purpose  of  this  form  of  society  is  the  special  welfare 
of  part  of  the  members  of  society. 

Under  this  class-labor  form  of  society,  class  robbery  is 
organized,  legalized,  and  easy. 

The  foundation  institution  of  all  despotism  is  the  institu- 
tion of  private  property  in  the  economic  foundations  of  so- 
ciety— that  is,  in  the  means  of  production.  This  is  the  rock- 
bottom  of  organized,  legalized  and  easy  robbery  of  the  work- 
ers by  the  shirkers. 

Historically  society  has  been  organized  in  a  class-labor 
form  in  three  different  ways, — as  follows: 

(1)  Chattel  slavery,  instituted  thousands  of  years 
ago,  was  a  c/rt.^s-lalior  system, — an  organized,  legalized  op- 
portunity for  wholesale  class  robber}- :  and  under  that  form 


WHAT  IS  11  ALL  WE  BO?  283 

of  class-labor  system,  with  class  robbery  legally  arranged  for, 
class  robbery  was,  of  course,  respectable,  profitable  and  easy — 
and  therefore  inevitable. 

Peace  was  impossible. 

The  purpose  of  this  form  of  society  was  unsocial. 

Under  this  form  of  society  the  masters  were  in  legal  pos- 
session of  the  means  of  production  and  also  of  the  forts, 
courts,  and  legislatures  (such  as  existed)  ;  and  were  thus  in 
perfect  position  to  defend  and  extend  their  industrial  robbery. 

The  chattel  slave  owners  were  thus  parasites,  aggressive 
social  parasites. 

That  is  admitted.* 

(2)  Serfdom,  common  in  Europe  only  a  hundred  years 
ago,  was  also  a  class-labor  system — an  organized,  legalized 
opportunity  for  wholesale  class  robbery ;  and  under  that  form 
of  class-labor  system,  with  class  robbery  legally  arranged  for, 
class  robbery  was,  of  course  respectable,  profitable  and  easy 
— and  therefore  inevitable. 

Peace  was  impossible. 

The  purpose  of  this  form  of  society  was  unsocial. 

Under  this  form  the  masters  were  still  in  legal  possession 
of  the  means  of  production  and  also  of  the  forts,  courts  and 
legislatures,  and  were  thus  in  perfect  position  to  defend  and 
extend  their  industrial  robbery. 

The  landlords-and-masters  of  the  ancient  serfs  wer6  thus 
also  parasites,  aggressive  social  parasites. 

That  is  admitted. 

(3)  Capitalism,  the  present  system,  is  also  a  class- 
labor  system,  an  organized,  legalized  opportunity  for  whole- 
sale class  robbery;  and  under  this  form  of  class-labor  system, 
with  class  robbery  legally  arranged  for,  class  robbery  is  to- 
day, of  course,  altogether  respectable,  abundantly  profitable 
and  temptingly  easy — and  therefore,  naturally,  inevitable. 

The  purpose  of  the  present  capitalist  form  of  society  is 


*  See  Chapter  Eleven  for  suggestions  on  the  origin  of  large- 
scale  parasitic  aggression ;  and  on  the  origin  and  history  of  the  work- 
ing class  and  of  the  class-labor  form  of  society. 


284  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

the  special  welfare  of  only  a  part  of  society,  the  capitalist 
class,  and  is,  therefore,  an  unsocial  purpose. 

Peace  is  impossible — while  capitalism  lasts. 

Under  this  form  of  society  the  masters,  the  capitalist 
class,  are  in  possession  of  the  means  of  production ;  that  is,  in 
legal  possession  of  the  industrial  foundations  of  society,  and 
also  in  legal  control  of  the  arsenals,  cannon,  soldiers,  forts, 
courts  and  legislatures,  and  are  thus  in  perfect  position  to 
defend  and  extend  their  industrial  robbery. 

The  capitalists  (so  far  as  they  receive  social  irwomes  with- 
out rendering  equivalent  social  service)  are  thus  parasites, 
aggressive  social  parasites.     (See  footnote,  pages  298-99.) 

That  is  admitted.  That  is  admitted,  explained  and  con- 
demned even  by  the  President  of  the  American  Sociological 
Society,  Dr.  Lester  F.  Ward,  Professor  of  Sociology  in 
Brown  University.* 


*  See  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  581-97;  Psychic  Factors  in 
Civilization,  Chapter  24. 

Note  carefully  the  quotation  on  methods  of  social  parasites  at 
the  head  of  the  present  chapter  from  Dr.  Ross's  Social  Control. 
Professor  Ross  is  generally  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  profound 
and  brilliant  writers  on  Sociology. 

It  is  important  to  consider,  too,  that,  as  a  Socialist,  Dr. 
Franklin  H.  Giddings,  Head  of  Department  of  Sociology  in  Co- 
lumbia University,  recognizes  the  capitalist  class's  parasitic  relation 
to  society.  Dr.  Giddings  is  recognized  in  all  the  universities  of  the 
world  as  having  few  equals  as  a  sociologist. 

The  social  parasites  of  the  world  will  never  forgive  the  learned 
Socialist,  Dr.  Thorstein  Veblen,  recently  of  the  University  of 
Chicago,  for  writing  his  bold  and  astonishing  book.  The  Theory  of 
the  Leisure  Class.  The  screaming  mockeries  and  glittering  pre- 
tentions of  the  "princely-fortune"  parasites  of  capitalism  are  merci- 
lessly explained  by  him. 

It  is  noteworthy  too  that  the  Editor-in-Chief  of  the  American 
Journal  of  Sociology,  and  Head  of  the  Department  of  Sociology  in 
the  University  of  Chicago,  Dr.  Albion  W.  Small,  has  for  many  years 
been  calling  attention,  in  lectures,  to  the  parasitic  nature  of  oh' 
of  the  forms  of  capitalist  income,  thus:  "There  is  no  moral  justi- 
fication for  the  taking  of  interest  incomes."  In  his  General  So- 
ciology, pp.  268-69,  Dr.  Small  says:  "In  the  first  place,  capital 
produces  nothing.     It  earns  nothing."     See  also  his  suggestions  on 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  285 

This  parasitism  of  capitalism  is  easily  seen  in  this  way: 

Wealth  equivalent  to  three  hundred  and  sixty-nine  tons 
of  gold  ($200,000,000)  was  given  by  inheritance  to  William 
H.   Vanderbilt's  eight  children.'* 

If  the  daughter  of  John  D.  RocJcefeller,  senior,  should  hy 
inheritance  receive  one-half  of  the  present  six-hundred-mil- 
lion-dollar fortune,  she  would  receive,  without  rendering  any 
service  whatever,  wealth  equivalent  to  five  hundred  and  fifty- 
three  tons  of  gold. 

Billions  of  dollars'  wortli  of  mines,  railways,  factories, 
forests  and  other  means  of  production,  will,  by  inheritance, 
without  function, — that  is,  without  service — legally  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  children  of  the  present  capitalist  class, 
Avhether  those  children  are  intelligent,  virtuous  and  indus- 
trious, or  stupid,  vicious  and  lazy.  And  thus,  like  the  children 
of  kings  and  nobles,  they  will  be  in  position  to  win  the  race 
of  life  without  running,  in  position  to  prey  upon  others  in  the 
struggle  for  existence,  in  legal  position  to  procure  substance 
without  service. 

This  whole  vast  scheme  of  robbery — social  parasitism — is 
"correct"  and  "proper," — that  is,  the  process  is  elaborately 

LEGALIZED. 

Parasitism  is  robbery. 

Parasitism  does  not  cease  to  be  parasitism,  nor  does  rob- 
bery cease  to  be  robbery,  when,  like  chattel  slavery,  it  shrewd- 
ly gets  itself  organized,  baptized  and  legalized  as  an  "emi- 
nently respectable"  and  profltahle  righteous  institution  for 
committing  perpetual  grand  larceny.^ 

Thus  at  present,  as  in  the  past  under  slavery,  as  in  the 
past  under  serfdom,  the  ruling  class,  as  intelligent  parasites, 
prepare  for  class  aggression,  prepare  for  class  robbery.    They 


social  parasites  on  page  266,  where  he  is  clearly  in  considerable 
degree  in  agreement  with  Dr.  Ward. 

Gustavus  Myers'  History  of  Great  American  Fortunes  is  here 
again  commended  as  an  extraordinary  record  of  remarkable  social 
parasitism  in  American  history. 

*  See  Twenty-Eight  Years  in  Wall  Street,  p.  388 ;  by  Henry 
Clews,  a  very  well  known  banker  of  Wall  Street. 

■j-  See  Chapter  Three,  "Explanation" — Surplus. 


286  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

as  a  class  create  and  secure  their  opportnnit}'^  for  legally  rob- 
bing the  producing  class  by  arranging  to  control  the  industrial 
structure  of  society  and  thus  control  the  performance  of  the 
industrial  function — that  is,  the  fundamental  function,  the 
first  function,  of  society. 

The  ruled  and  robbed  working  class  must  get  it  in  mind 
distinctly  and  unforgetably  that  the  foundation  of  all  class- 
labor  forms  of  society,  that  which  gives  to  part  of  society  the 
control  of  society,  the  foundation  upon  which  industrial  para- 
sitism rests,  the  substructure  of  all  despotism — is  the  in- 
stitution of  private  property  in  the  chief  material  means  of 
production.  This  institution  splits  society  into  two 
CLASSES,  namely,  the  producers  and  the  parasites.  Political 
parties  do  not  create  classes.  Political  parties  are  a  conse- 
quence of  industrial  classes  and  are  intended  to  defend  in- 
dustrial classes.  Sometimes,  to  make  sure  of  victory,  the 
capitalist  class  have  several  political  parties  in  the  field — 
under  shrewdly  confusing  names. 

A  class-labor  system,  any  class-labor  system,  all  class- 
labor  systems — provide,  by  means  of  institutions,  the  legal 
conditions  and  opportunities  at  the  industrial  foundations  of 
society  for  part  of  society,  a  class,  to  act  directly  or  indi- 
rectly as  parasites;  and  it  is  entirely  natural  that  that  part 
of  society,  in  pursuing  their  own  interests,  should  use  their 
opportunity  to  act  like  parasites.  And  it  is  entirely  natural 
also  that  there  should  be  resistance  by  the  producers,  and 
therefore  class  struggle,  class  war.  Indeed  all  class-labor 
forms  of  society  are  industrially  so  brutally  unjust  and  there- 
fore so  irritating  that  the  largest  fact  in  such  societies  is  an 
eternal,  internal,  infernal  conflict  of  industrial  class  interests 
— <an  endless  civil  war  in  industry,  a  class  war,  a  class 
struggle,  around  and  around  the  industrial  foundations  of 
society.     (See  pages  167-70.) 

Antagonism  is  thus  in  the  Structure  of  class-iorra  society. 

This  helps  to  an  understanding  of  past  and  present  con- 
flicts. 

It  becomes  evident  that  the  source  of  war  is  to  be  found 
at  the  industrial  foundations  of  society. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  287 

War  —  war  broadly  considered  —  the  class  struggle, 
throughout  the  history  of  civilized  society  is  no  more  and  no 
less  than  the  natural  aggressive  robbery  by  a  part  of  society 
provided  with  an  opportunity  to  rob  and  the  natural  resistance 
of  the  class  that  is  robbed. 

War,  the  war,  is  aggression  and  resistance — robbery 

AND  resistance — PLUNDER  AND  PROTEST  : — 

(1)  The  aggressive  industrial  robbery  by  one  class,  and 

(2)  The  resistance  to  industrial  robbery  by  the  other 
class. 

Not  only  in  the  history  of  civilized  peoples  everywhere  for 
thousands  of  years,  but  also  in  our  own  present-day  capitalist 
society  everywhere,  we  see  this  natural  aggression  and  natural 
resistance. 

The  result  to-day — as  in  the  past — is  struggle,  war,  class 
war — between  the  parasites  and  the  producers. 

The  war  is  the  class  war. 

Modern  "foreign"  wars  are  simply  contests  between  dif- 
ferent groups  of  capitalists  (the  workers  of  course  doing  the 
fighting  and  bleeding)  to  extend  the  area  of  opportunity  for 
industrial  class  robbery,  and  are  thus  simply  phases  and  ex- 
tensions of  the  class  war. 

War,  then,  begins  with  aggression,  continues  with  aggres- 
sion ;  and  is  at  present  extended  by  aggressive  foreign  wars  of 
industrial  or  commercial  conquest. 

To  summarize. 

(a)  War,  conflict,  class  aggression  and  class  resist(mc&, 
are  inherent  in  all  class-labor  forms  of  society. 

(&)     Capitalism  is  a  class-labor  form  of  society. 

(c)  Therefore,  under  capitalism  there  will  be,  there 
must  be  as  long  as  capitalism  lasts — class  aggression  and 
class  resistance,  class  conflict — class  war. 

The  conclusion  cannot  be  dodged:  Peace  is  impos- 
sible— under  capitalism. 

A  million  sermons  and  a  million  peace  talk-fests  cannot 
heal  the  smarting  wounds  in  the  robbed  toiler's  breast;  can- 
not pull  the  fangs  of  the  capitalists  from  the  flesh  of  the 


288  WAR— WHAT  F0R9 

toilers,  as  long  as  capitalism  lasts.  Organized  eloquence  can 
not  stop  a  cannon  ball  or  persuade  the  rulers  to  resign. 

Under  capitalism,  as  under  slavery  and  serfdom,  the  em- 
ployers are  in  a  position  down  at  the  indtistrial  foundations 
of  society  to  legally  filch  their  livings  from  the  working  class 
— thus: — the  capitalists  privately  own  and  privately  control 
the  means  of  production — the  things  the  workers  must  use 
in  getting  a  living.  Like  leeches  the  capitalist  class  are  thus 
fastened  to  the  very  foundations  of  society.  Here  at  the 
industrial  foundations  of  society  the  industrial  blood  of  so- 
ciety, wealth,  is  produced.  And  here  are  the  leeches;  and 
here  they  are  in  absolute  control  of  the  industrial  blood  of 
society.  And  it  is  natural,  entirely  natural,  that  here,  in 
such  position  with  such  opportunity,  they  should,  like  leeches, 
suck  this  industrial  blood,  that  is,  behave  like  parasites. 

The  capitalists — with  society  arranged  in  this  manner — 
are  indeed  in  position  to  rob  the  world  wholesale,  in  position 
to  hold  up  all  the  weary  producers  on  all  the  earth. 

This  organized,  legalized  hold-up  and  the  resistance  to 
this  hold-up — this  is  war,  the  war. 

The  policeman,  the  militiaman,  the  cossack  and  the  sol- 
dier are  all  always  ready  to  rush  upon  the  world's  stage  to 
serve. 

To  serve  whom  ? 

In  all  the  conflicts  due  to  class-labor  forms  of  society, 
the  ruling  class,  as  already  indicated,  have  always  a  heavy 
social  fist,  a  social  weapon — an  armed  guard,  such  as  militia, 
heavy  police  forces,  and  standing  armies  to  extend  the  robbery 
and  to  protect  the  industrial  ruling  class  in  their  unjust,  un- 
social position  of  legalized  robbers  of  the  working  class. 
All  talk,  all  hope,  all  prayer,  for  peace  and  quiet  and  harmony 
are  idle  as  long  as  society  is  unjustly  organized — that  is, 
unsocially  organized,  down  at  its  very  foundations,  one  part  of 
society  being  in  the  position  of  industrial  masters,  the  other 
part  of  society  being  in  the  position  of  industrial  dependents. 
The  yawning  chasm  in  society  thus  created  between  the  two 
warring  classes — can  never  he  bridged  with  wishes,  hopes  and 
prayers,  nor  hy  peace  conferences  dominated  by  profit-stuffed 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  289 

masters  and  their  well-fed  intellectual  serfs  wJio  dare  not 
admit  the  fundamental  cause  of  war* 

Thus  it  becomes  clear  what  the  future  has  for  the 
working  class — while  capitalism  lasts: 

In  spite  of  all  the  sincere  and  insincere  hopes  and  prayers 
for  peace  there  will  always  be,  under  capitalism,  legalized 
wholesale  plundering  of  the  workers  by  the  capitalist  employ- 
ers— a  form  of  aggressive  social  parasitism  by  the  employers 
and  vigorous  resistance  by  the  workers  in  proportion  to  their 
realization  of  the  robbery; — and  consequently  there  will  be 
wage  struggles,  wage  reductions,  compulsory  under-consump- 
tion,  "over-production,"  unemployment,  bread  lines,  soup 
kitchens,    rent    riots,    evictions,    "demand-work"    marches. 


*  Andrew  Carnegie  is  a  sample  of  a  profit-stuflFed  tyrant  whose 
parasitic  industrial  income  is  tens  of  millions  per  year  without 
rendering  industrial  service,  whose  legally  parasitic  heirs,  ren- 
dering no  industrial  service,  will,  like  leeches,  suck  up  many 
millions  per  year.  The  audacity  of  his  hypocrisy  is  typical  of 
his  class.  In  recent  international  peace  congresses  Carnegie  has 
been  steadily  grinning  and  chattering  in  the  spot  light.  But  study 
this  man  for  a  moment: 

( 1 )  In  the  Homestead  industrial  civil  war,  in  1892,  Pinkertons 
received  $5  per  day  and  expenses  for  murdering  Carnegie  steel 
workers. 

(2)  The  Carnegie  Company  furnished  the  Russian  Government 
steel  armor  for  warships  at  about  one-half  the  price  the  same  com- 
pany patriotically  charged  Carnegie's  own  dear,  dear  country. 

(3)  "Our  records  show  that  the  companies  governed  by  Mr. 
Carnegie  received  more  rebates  [in  anarchistic  defiance  of  Ms  coun- 
try's laws]  during  the  time  when  rebates  were  given  by  our  road, 
than  any  other  shipper  in  any  line  of  business." — First  Vicf^-Presi- 
dent  Green  of  the  Pennsylvania  Railway  Company.  Quoted  in  the 
New  York  Independent. 

(4)  This  same  crafty  gentleman  recently  provided  enormous 
old-age  pension  funds  for  college  and  university  professors.  This 
will  perhaps  tightly  seal  the  lips  of  thousands  of  teachers  on  the 
raging  civil  war  in  industry  in  which  war  Carnegie  is  already  a 
blood-stained  tzar.  Fearing  to  lose  their  old  age  pensions,  teachers 
may  find  it  easier  and  more  "respectable"  to  desert  the  working 
class  in  its  struggle  against  the  capitalist  class — Carnegie's  class. 
(See  Index:  "Hague  Peace  Conference" j  also  Chapter  Two,  pages 
24-25. 


290  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

strikes,  picketing,  "scabbing/'  boycotting,  lockouts,  injunc- 
tions, "bull-pens,"  blacklisting,  insterstate  kidnapping;  and 
also  anti-picket  thugs, — policemen,  Pinkertons,  deputy  sheriffs, 
constabulary,  cossacks,  militiamen  and  the  "regulars"  shooting 
down  underpaid,  underfed  workers;  everywhere  the  belittled 
lives  and  the  spilt  blood  of  the  working  class.* 

And  there  will  be  increasing  opposition  to  free  assem- 
blage, opposition  to  free  speech,  opposition  to  free  press — in 
order  to  silence  discussion  and  stop  the  spread  of  knowledge 
of  what  is  fundamentally  wrong. 

Also  there  will  continue  to  be,  from  time  to  time,  natur- 
ally, under  capitalism,  wars  of  conquest  to  widen  the  field 
of  exploitation — to  enlarge  the  opportunity  for  aggressive 
social  parasitism, — wars  to  open  up  foreign  markets,  wars  to 
protect  foreign  markets  for  products  which  the  producers' 
wages  will  not  permit  them  to  consume  and  the  employers 
are  not  able  to  consume; — and  everywhere  the  world  will  be 
stormy  with  the  stirring  trumpet  call,  "To  arms !  To  arms !" 
— stormy  with  the  crafty  and  confusing  cry,  "To  the  front! 
To  the  front !  The  flag !" — stormy  with  the  shrilling  fife, 
the  roll  of  drums,  the  rattle  of  musketry,  the  flash  of  swords, 
the  booming  roar  of  cannon,  burning  cities,  sinking  war- 
ships and  the  thundering  tread  of  galloping  cavalry  horses, — 
the  class  struggle  in  a  thousand  visible  bitter  forms, — and 
everywhere  windrows  and  ditchfuls  of  dead  men,  dead  working 
men,  everywhere  the  torn  flesh,  the  slit  veins,  the  streaming 
blood  and  tears  of  the  M'orking  class :  hell  everywhere  except  in 
the  homes  of  our  "very  best  people"  who  in  times  of  trouble  as 
in  times  of  peace  are  always  calmly  feeding   (like  leeches 

*  "If,  however,  there  occurs  some  general  industrial  disturbance 
of  a  serious  sort,  such  as  a  condition  of  over-production,  ...  it  is 
likely  to  turn  out  that  these  vocational  groupings  will  be  weakened 
or  even  destroyed.  In  their  place  the  economic  classes  will  enter  the 
political  arena,  and  carry  on  the  conflict  with  great  energy.  .  .  . 
It  may  be  that  the  standard  of  life  of  an  industrial  class  may  be 
so  seriously  threatened  that  this  class  struggle  will  reach  the  ex- 
treme of  absolute  hostility." — Professor  Albion  W.  Small,  Head  of 
Department  of  Sociology,  University  of  Chicago:  General  Sociology, 
p.  264.     Italics  mine.       G.  R.  K. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  291 

ever  feeding)  on  the  surplus  legally  filched  from  the  working 
class. 

Thus  capitalist  society  is  everywhere  cursed  with  a 
festering  social  sore,  an  unhealable  sore,  poisoning,  withering 
the  best  things  in  society,  blasting  the  finer  forms  and  feelings 
of  brotherhood  and  peace.  Everywhere  the  lives  of  the  toilers 
are  vulgarized  and  brutalized  and  wasted.  And  all  these 
things  will  always  be  natural  and  unescapable  facts  and  parts 
of  any  class-labor  form  of  society,  an  unsocially  organized 
society,  with  injustice  organized,  legalized  and  easy,  down 
deep  in  the  industrial  foundations  of  society, — ever  an  end- 
less civil  war  in  industry  between  the  two,  the  only  two,  in- 
dustrial classes. 

Now  what  shall  we  do  about  it  ? 

It  is  as  plain  as  "a,  b,  c." 

War  and  all  the  forms  of  the  class  struggle  are  excessive 
social  inflammation.* 

(a)  Injustice  violently  inflames  society. 

(b)  Social  parasitism  is  monstrously  unjust. 

(e)  Social  parasitism  therefore  inflames  society — and 
should  be  destroyed. 

(a)  Any  form  of  society  that  produces  and  protects  a 
class  of  social  parasites  will  always  inflame  society,  and  should 
therefore  be  destroyed. 

(b)  Capitalism  produces  and  protects  a  class  of  social 
parasites,  and  thus  inflames  society. 

(c)  Capitalism  must  therefore  be  destroyed. 

Justice  soothes  society. 

Society  must  be  organized  with  justice  in  its  structure. 
We  must  search  for  justice — for  a  new  social  structure. 
We  must  construct  a  form  of  society  that  will  "make  it 
easier  to  do  right  and  more  difficult  to  do  wrong.^f 
Shall  we  be  non-resistant? 
No,  emphatically,  no. 


*  Reread  first  page  of  Preface, 
t  William  E.  Gladstone. 


292  WAR—WHAT  FOR? 

Non-resistance  is  not  natural  (especially  for  the  class  con- 
scious workers) — for  workers  who  understand  their  interests 
as  a  class;  and  non-resistance  is  not  reasonable,  is  not  safe, 
and  is  not  possible.  Non-resistance  would  mean  defeat  and 
degradation  for  the  working  class — forever.* 

Then  is  peace  a  childish  dream  and  is  war  to  be  an  end- 
less wrangle  and  blood-spilling  nightmare — for  the  working 
class  ? 

No — ^not  necessarily. 

We  must  resist. 

But  we  should  not  resist  first  and  only  by  physical  force. 

The  working  class  must  think — or  they  will  have  to 
struggle  and  bleed  and  weep  and  wait  forever, — wait  and 
whimper  like  babies  in  the  woods  for  "some  one"  or  some 
"good  people"  to  come  and  "save"  them. 

The  workers  must  think  till  they  find  a  form  of  social 
organization  in  which  the  fundamental  cause  of  war,  that  is, 
class  robbery,  will  have  no  opportunity,  and  will  therefore 
cease  to  exist. 

What  Dr.  Ward  calls  the  "spirit  of  aggression"  will  fade 
and  finally  expire  when  the  condition  (the  parasitic  opportu- 
nity) which  cultivates  the  "spirit  of  aggression"  is  destroyed. 

The  founders  of  the  American  republic  resisted  fear- 
lessly, hy  force  too.  But  the  worhing  class  in  the  United 
States  at  presemt  should  not,  and  cannot  now,  with  advantage, 
resist  hy  force  and  force  alone,  and  that  for  very  good  rea^ 
so7is: 

First  : — We  of  the  working  class  in  the  United  States  have 
now  for  our  own  class  defense  another,  and  better,  form  of 
power,  a  form  of  power  less  dangerous,  less  expensive,  quieter 
and  more  legal  and  therefore  more  strategic, — a  form  of 
power  that  makes  the  capitalist  class  dread  the  awakening  of 
the  working  class;  namely,  our  political  power — our  united 
ballots. 


* ".  .  .  Non-resistance  would  be  fatal.  ...  If  ever  war  is 
done  away,  it  will  be  when  the  spirit  of  aggression,  not  of  protec- 
tion, shall  have  been  quenched." — Lester  F.  Ward:  Dynamic  Sociol- 
ogy, Vol.  I.,  p.  684. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  293 

Second  : — Until  we  are  intelligent  enough  to  strategically 
defend  our  class  with  our  united  ballots  we  shall  be  too  dull, 
even  if  it  should  be  necessary,  to  use  force  of  arms  success- 
fully in  defense  of  our  class.  It  seems  unwise  to  counsel 
the  use  of  the  ruder  methods  of  armed  force  until,  having 
developed  the  necessary  intelligence,  we  have  by  trial  fairly 
tested  our  peace  powers,  our  political  powers — our  united 
ballots.     (See  special  paragraph,  page  303.) 

Third  : — We  are  not  politically  prepared, — that  is,  we  are 
not  legally  in  possession  of  the  powers  of  government, 
and  therefore  we  are  not  in  strong  position  to  protect  our 
class  with  all  our  forms  of  power  legally.  And  until  we  are 
prepared  we  shall  be  used  and  abused. 

Thus  it  is  evident  we  can  not,  with  advantage,  use  physical 
force. 

What  must  we  do? 

We  must  destroy  capitalism  and  close  the  class  struggle. 

In  all  the  variations  of  the  struggles  or  wars  of  capitalism 
the  working  class  are  hired,  flattered,  fooled,  or  forced  to  do 
all  the  actual  fighting. 

This  must  cease — as  soon  as  possible — as  a  preliminary. 

This  will  cease — when  the  conscious  workers  successfully 
explain.'  capitalism  and  war  to  the  confused  and  deluded  work- 
ers. War  will  cease  when  we  have  explained  the  national  and 
international  conspiracy  of  the  capitalist  class. 

War  will  cease  when  we  rouse  the  workers  of  the  world  hy 
explaining. 

By  explaining  we  inform. 

By  informing  we  increase  intelligence. 

By  increasing  intelligence  we  increase  self-respect  and  the 
passion  for  a  greater  life  and  for  the  freedom  necessary  for  a 
greater  life. 

Therefore, 

Explain — inside  and  outside  the  ranks — everywhere — in 
shop,  mill,  mine  and  on  the  farm. 

Explain  till  emperors  and  presidents  dread  their  own 
conscripted  and  "volunteer"  armies. 


294  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Explain  till  murder  for  board  and  clothes  and  $16  a 
month  looks  vile. 

Explain  till  young  working-class  men  inside  and  outside 
the  ranks  see  the  light. 

Explain  till  an  advertisement  for  human  butchers  and 
military  fists  becomes  utterly  disgusting  to  the  working  class. 

Explain  till  our  class  becomes  class  conscious — till  it  sees 
itself,  sees  its  class  interest  and  its  class  power. 

Explain  till  our  class  can  not  be  fooled,  hired,  flattered  or 
forced  to  butcher  or  be  butchered. 

Explain  till  our  class,  like  the  capitalist  class,  understand 
the  political  method  of  class  defense. 

Explain  till  millions  of  the  roused  workers  of  all  political 
parties  clasp  hands  at  the  ballot  box  in  a  political  party  of 
their  own  class  for  the  defiant  self-defense  of  their  own  class. 

Explain  till  our  class  clearly  sees  and  proudly  declares 
that  we  must  destroy  the  capitalist  class-labor  form  of  so- 
ciety and  reconstruct  society  on  a  plan  of  rational  mutual- 
ism.* 

All  such  explanations,  all  such  teachings  tend  powerfully 
to  rouse  the  working  class  to  a  consciousness  of  themselves, 
make  them  eager  to  defend  themselves,  both  on  the  industrial 
field  and  on  the  political  field — with  all  their  forms  of  power. 

Chattel  slavery  has  been  destroyed.    Certainly.    Why  not  ? 

Serfdom  has  been  destroyed.    Of  course.    Why  not  ? 

Capitalism  must  be  destroyed.     Of  course 

What !    Shall  we  destroy  the  rich  men,  the  capitalists  ? 

No,  of  course  not. 

That  would  not  be  fair.  Capitalists  are  capitalists  legally 
— permitted  by  the  working  class. 

By  politically  created  laws  and  institutions  capitalists  are 
legally  in  position  to  rule  and  rob  the  working  class. 

And  by  politically  created  laws  and  institutions  the  ruling 
class  shall  cease  to  be  in  that  position. 

The  personal  destruction  of  thousands,  or  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  capitalists  would  not  in  the  least  degree  mend 


See  Chapter  Seven,  Section  12, 


WHAT  SHALL  \YE  DO?  295 

matters.  The  children  of  chattel  slave  owners  became  slave 
owners  by  the  politically  created  laws  of  inheritance.  Just  so 
the  children  of  capitalists  become  capitalists  through  neither 
virtue  nor  vice  of  theirs — they  become  capitalists  through 
politically  created  laws  of  inheritance. 

The  legal  right  to  own  privately  the  industrial  founda- 
tions of  society  must  be  destroyed,  legally.  If  the  capitalists 
should  hecome  anarchists  and  illegally  resist  legal  methods 
they  could  not  reasonably  object  to  having  their  own  laws 
against  anarchists  applied  to  themselves  vigorously. 

Of  course  it  is  true  that  the  capitalists  fleece  the  workers 
of  surplus  value  all  the  time,  and  many  of  the  capitalists 
are  malignant  and  cruel  toward  the  workers  and  by  a  thou- 
sand persecutions  invite  their  own  personal  destruction.  Some 
of  the  capitalists  have  destroyed  themselves,  have  committed 
suicide,  to  escape  the  disgrace  of  their  crimes.  Some  capi- 
talists are  now  in  the  penitentiary;  many  more  capi- 
talists should  be  in  the  penitentiary — as  many  of  their  own 
class  confess;  a  far  larger  number  of  capitalists,  if  the  laws 
were  enforced,  would  promptly  leave  the  country  to  keep  out 
of  the  penitentiary — some  have  done  so;  and  a  large  number 
of  capitalists  are  also  bribing  juries  and  prosecuting  attorneys 
in  order  to  avoid  the  penitentiary;  many  prominent  business 
men,  trust  magnates,  have  had  the  anti-trust  law  changed  to 
enable  them  to  more  easily  avoid  the  penitentiary — so  Presi- 
dent Taft  said  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  August  19,  1907.* 


*  William  Howard  Taft:  Present-Day  Problems,  pp.  162-63: — 
".  .  .  It  is  also  true  that  had  the  Elkins  bill  never  been  passed, 
the  same  acts  could  and  doubtless  Avould  have  been  prosecuted  .  .  . 
under  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act  of  1889  which  the  Elkins  law 
supplanted.  .  .  .  Under  the  1889  amendment,  liowever,  the  individuals 
convicted  could  have  been  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  whereas  under 
the  Elkins  Act  the  punishment  by  imprisonment  was  taken  away. 
.  .  .  The  chief  effect  of  the  Elkins  law  had  on  these  particular  prose- 
cutions .  .  .  was  ...  to  save  the  guilty  individual  perpetrators 
from  imprisonment. 

"It  was  well  understood  that  the  Elkins  bill  was  passed  without 
opposition  by,  and  with  the  full  consent  of,  the  railroads,  and  the 
chief  reason  was   the  elimination  of   the  penitentiary   penalty   for 


I 


296  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

And  the  capitalist  class  outrage  the  working  class  in  a 
thousand  ways.  This  is  all  true.  The  multitude  of  capitalist 
outrages  are  sufficient  to  provoke  revenge.  But  we  do  not 
seek  revenge.  Eevenge  is  not  fine.  Eevenge  is  not  noble. 
Moreover  we  cannot  escape  war  by  means  of  revenge,  and,  still 
more  important,  rich  men  and  women  are  not  a  form  of  so- 
ciety. They  are  members  of  society  and  they  behave  na- 
turally— under  the  circumstances;  that  is,  being  a  ruling  class 
in  a  class-form  society,  they  behave  as  masters. 

Capitalism  as  a  form  of  society  must  be  destroyed. 


unjust  discriminations.  .  .  .  The  imprisonment  of  two  or  three 
prominent  officers  of  a  railway  company,  or  a  trust  .  .  .  would  have 
greater  deterrent  effect  for  the  future  than  millions  in  a  fine." 

Theodore  Roosevelt  knows  a  good  deal  about  the  capitalist 
class.  He  wrote  on  pages  5,  6,  9,  10  of  his  book,  American  Ideals, 
as  follows: 

"The  people  that  do  harm  in  the  end  are  not  the  wrong-doer 
whom  all  execrate.  .  .  .  The  career  of  Benedict  Arnold  has  done 
us  no  harm  as  a  nation.  .  .  .  The  foes  of  order  harm  quite  as  much 
by  example  as  by  what  they  actually  accomplish.  So  it  is  with  the 
equally  dangerous  criminals  of  the  wealthy  classes.  The  conscience- 
less stock  speculator  who  acquires  wealth  by  swindling  his  fellows, 
by  debauching  judges,  and  corrupting  legislatures,  and  who  ends  his 
days  with  the  reputation  of  being  among  the  richest  men  in  America, 
exerts  over  the  minds  of  the  rising  generation  an  influence  worse 
than  that  of  the  average  murderer  or  bandit,  because  his  career  is 
even  more  dazzling  in  its  success,  and  even  more  dangerous  in  its 
effects  upon  the  community.  Any  one  who  reads  the  essays  of 
Charles  Francis  Adams  and  Henry  Adams,  entitled  A  Chapter  of 
Erie,  and  the  Gold  Conspiracy  in  New  York,  will  read  about  the 
doings  of  men  whose  influence  for  evil  upon  the  community  is  more 
potent  than  that  of  any  band  of  anarchists  or  train  robbers.  .  .  . 
Too  much  cannot  be  said  against  men  who  sacrifice  everything  to 
getting  wealth.  There  is  not  in  the  world  a  more  ignoble  character 
than  the  mere  money  getting  American,  insensible  to  every  duty,  re- 
gardless of  every  principle,  bent  only  on  amassing  a  fortvme  .  .  . 
whether  ...  to  speculate  in  stocks  and  wreck  railroads  himself,  or 
to  allow  his  son  to  lead  a  life  of  foolish  and  expensive  idleness  and 
gross  debauchery,  or  to  purchase  some  scoundrel  of  high  social  posi- 
tion, foreign  or  native,  for  his  daughter.  Such  a  man  is  only  the 
more  dangerous  if  he  occasionally  does  some  deed  like  founding  a 
college  or  cndoicing  a  church  which  makes  those  good  people,  who 
are  also  foolish,  forget  his  real  iniquity."     Italics  mine,     G.  R.  K. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  9  297 

Is  it  meant  that  we  shall  destroy  the  means  of  produc- 
tion— the  mills,  mines,  forests,  railroads  and  such  things? 

Certainly  not.  The  means  of  production  are  material, 
mechanical  things.     They  are  not  a  form  of  society. 

What  then?  Are  we  to  "destroy  society"?  Are  we  to 
turn  society  upside  down,  inside  out  and  "other  end  to," — 
suddenly — "some  dark  night,"  so  to  speak? 

Not  at  all. 

Here  is  what  we  must  do: — Rapidly,  just  as  rapidlv  as 
possible  we  must  destroy  the  present  class-labor  form  of  so- 
ciety called  capitalism, — and  to  do  this  we  must  striJce  at 
and  strike  out  the  foundation  of  the  capitalist  form  of  society. 

But  what  is  the  foundation  of  this  capitalist  cZass-labor 
form  of  society? 

As  already  pointed  out,  the  foundation  of  capitalism  is 
the  institution  of  private  property  in  the  means  of  production. 

The  capitalists,  the  employers,  the  ruling  class,  stand 
legally  between  the  means  of  production  and  the  users  of  the 
means  of  production;  thus  a  legal  obstruction  is  raised  be- 
tween the  workers  and  the  things  they  work  with  in  getting 
a  living. 

The  capitalist  class  legally  control  the  conditions  under 
which  the  workers  may  use  the  means  of  production. 

The  capitalist  class  are  in  a  legalized  parasitic  relation 
or  connection  to  the  means  of  production. 

This  relation  is  the  key-stone  in  the  arch  of  capitalism ; 
this  relation  is  the  prime  element  in  the  present  form  of 
society. 

This  parasitic  relation  enables  the  capitalists  to  rule,  rob 
and  ruin  the  working  class  all  the  time  everywhere. 

This  relation  must  be  destroyed;  this  despotic,  parasitic 
relation  must  be  cut. 

The  capitalist  class  must  be  legally  pared  off,  legally 
pushed  off,  legally  shorn  from,  the  chief  material  means  of 
production — as  private  owners. 

Yes,  this  robbery,  this  organized,  legalized  robbery  called 
capitalism — must  be  destroyed. 

"The   vast   individual    and    corporate   fortunes,    the   vast   com- 


298  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

binations  of  capital,  which  have  marked  the  development  of  our 
industrial  system,  create  new  conditions  and  necessitate  a  change 
from  the  old  attitude  of  the  state  and  nation  toward  property."* 

The  case,  the  circumstances,  require  unflinching  social 
surgery. 

You  believe  in  surgery,  don't  you.  Of  course  you  do. 
Surgery  is  recognized  the  world  over  as  a  rational  and  neces- 
sary means  of  saving  life,  the  life  of  the  individual. 

Well,  extend  the  application  of  the  principle  and  practice 
of  surgery  to  society — to  the  social  body.f 

Parasites  never  voluntarily  let  go  their  grasp  on  the 
source  of  their  lives,  never  voluntarily  let  go  the  living  things 
from  which  they  suck  their  livings.  And  the  parasitic  capi- 
talist class  will  stick  to  the  means  of  production,  as  private 
owners,  till  they  are  legally  dislodged — shorn  from  the  means 
of  production.  What  is  here  written  concerning  social  para- 
sites should  not  be  misunderstood  as  malicious  reflection  on 
the  ancient  slave  owner  or  the  ancient  feudal  landlord  or  the 
modern  capitalist.  In  the  course  of  human  evolution  the  ap- 
pearance and  activity  of  social  parasites  has  been — and  is 
now — as  natural  as  the  appearance  and  activity  of  parasites 
in  the  lower  animal  world  and  in  the  vegetable  world.  And 
the  effort  to  dislodge  human  parasites  from  society  should  be, 
as  far  as  is  humanly  possible,  free  from  personal  malice.X 


*  Theodore  Roosevelt:  in  a  speech  at  the  State  Fair,  Minne- 
apolis, Minnesota,  September  3,  1901. 

f  "If  the  public  economy  of  a  people  be  an  organism,  we  must 
expect  to  find  that  the  perturbations,  which  affect  it,  present  some 
analogies  to  the  diseases  of  the  body  physical.  We  may,  therefore, 
hope  to  learn  much  that  may  be  of  use  in  practice,  from  the  tried 
methods  of  medicine."  Roscher:  Political  Economy,  Vol.  I.,  pp. 
85-86. 

Jit  must  be  added  for  the  sake  of  clearness  (and  fairness)  : 

( 1 )  Tliat  some  members  of  the  capitalist  class  detest  the  cap- 
italist system;  that  these  regret  their  unsocial  relation  to  the  social 
body;  and  that  while  they  are  living  under  the  capitalist  system 
they  are  in  somewhat  the  same  difficulty  that  a  democrat  is  in 
Russia.  One  can  believe  in  democracy  in  Russia,  but  he  can  not 
practice   democracy   under   the   autocratic   form   of   Russian  govern- 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  399 

However,  on  the  farm,  in  the  care  of  plants  and  animals 
no  matter  how  small  or  helpless  or  innocent  or  beautiful 
parasites  may  be  which  interfere  with  the  wheat  crop  or  the 
flock  of  sheep,  the  parasites  must  be  dislodged — rigorously 
and  promptly.  And,  in  society,  no  matter  how  handsome, 
polite,  pious,  learned,  philanthropic,  or  ancestrally  distin- 
guished and  blue-blooded  a  human  parasite  may  be  who  lives 
on  the  labor  of  the  workers,  that  parasite,  old  or  young,  male 
or  female,  must  dismount  promptly,  must  be  forced  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  working  class.  Those  who,  at  the  time  of 
social  reconstruction,  endeavor  to  defend  themselves  by  pol- 
ishing their  family  coat-of-arms  and  climbing  their  ancestral 
trees  in  search  of  credentials,  will  simply  be  making  monkeys 
of  themselves.  They  will  be  even  more  ridiculous  than  the 
Royalists  in  the  American  Revolution.  Those  of  "gentle 
breeding"  will  have  to  learn  the  gentle  art  of  getting  a  living 
by  producing  a  living;  that  awful  saying,  "If  he  will  not 
work,  neither  shall  he  eat,"  will  mean  more  and  more. 

The  working  class  must,  then,  legally,  do  whatever  is 
necessary  to  protect  themselves  from  the  strangling  clutches 
of  the  capitalist  class. 

And  here  is  what  is  necessary : 

The  working  class  must  themselves  become  organized  po- 
litical authority,  must  seize  the  powers  of  government — and 
thus  secure  legal  control  of  sovereign  political  power  which 
carries  with  it  the  legal  right*  to  control,  or  revise,  or  abolish, 
or  reorganize  industrial  institutions;  must  thus  secure  the 


raent.  So  under  Capitalism:  one  may  believe  in  industrial  democ- 
racy, but  he  cannot  practice  it  under  an  industrial  despotism. 

(2)  That  some  members  of  present  society  belong  partly  to  the 
capitalist  class  and  partly  to  the  working  class. 

(The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class,  a  brilliant  book  by  Dr.  Thor- 
stein  Veblen,  helpful  in  understanding  social  parasites,  is  urged  upon 
the  reader's  attention.     Also  W.  J.  Ghent's  Mass  and  Class.) 

*  "The  government  which  has  the  right  to  do  an  act  and  has 
imposed  upon  it  the  duty  of  performing  the  act,  must,  according 
to  the  dictates  of  reason,  be  permitted  to  select  the  means." — Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States,  March  7,  1819.  See  Supreme 
Court  Reports,  Vol.  17,  pp.  409,  430. 


300  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

legal  right  (and  power)  to  construct  and  inaugurate  that 
industrial  form  of  society  which  will  destroy  capitalism  with 
its  organized,  legalized  opportunity  for  class  robbery,  and  which 
will,  at  the  same  time,  substitute  organized,  legalized  op- 
portunity for  every  member  of  society  to  make  a  living  with- 
out being  robbed,  opportunity  to  live  without  wasting  and 
vulgarizing  his  life  in  a  struggle  against  his  fellow  men. 
And  this  destruction  of  unsocial  capitalism  and  the  con- 
struction, at  the  same  time,  in  place  of  capitalism,  the  neces- 
sary social  substitute,  can  he  accomplished  hy  the  industrial 
reorganization  of  society  on  the  following  plan — 

The  Plan  of  Rational  Mutualism: 

(1)  The  SOCIAL  ownership  of  the  means  of  production. 

(2)  The  SOCIAL  control  of  the  means  of  production. 

(3)  Equality  of  opportunity  to  use  the  means  of 
production,  under  regulations  made  by  the  workers  them^ 
selves. 

(4)  The  production  of  goods  primarily  for  social  serv- 
ice OF  ALL^ — instead  of  primarily  for  profits  for  a  part 
OF  society. 

(5)  The  self-employment  of  all  who  are  willing  to  do 
useful  work, — by  virtue  of  the  fact  of  their  joint  ownership 
and  joint  control  of  the  things  the  workers  must  collectively 
use  in  production,  the  reward  of  each  to  be  undiminished  by 
rent,  interest  or  profits. 

(6)  The  possession  and  control  of  the  powers  of 
government  by  anp  in  behalf  of  tpiose  who  seek  the 
freedom  of  the  working  class^  by  those  who  seek  to 
destroy   the   tyrannical   capitalist   wage-system   and 

THUS  secure  industrial  LIBERTY. 

This  plan  connects  every  life  with  the  source  of  life. 
This  plan  plants  firmly  the  feet  of  all  members  of  eo- 
ciety  upon  the  industrial  foundations  of  society. 
Safe. 

Unafraid. 
Free, 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  301 

This  mutualism  in  industry  will  not  interfere  with  such 
private  affairs  as  religious  life,  family  life  and  social  life, — ■ 
any  more  than  the  mutual  ownership  of  the  public  library 
now  interferes  with  such  private  affairs. 

Thus  we  must,  in  short,  socialize  society, — by  social- 
izing the  ownership,  socializing  the  control,  socializing  the 
management,  and  socializing  the  purpose  of  the  industrial 
foundations  of  society. 

This  would  be  the  destruction  of  that  class-labor  system 
called  capitalism  which  now  rests  on  the  institution  of  private 
property  in  the  means  of  production;  and  this  would,  at  the 
same  time,  also  constitute  a  rational  substitute — social  in  its 
nature. 

Mutualism  would  thus  be  in  the  structure  of  society. 

The  purpose  of  this  form  of  society  would  be  a  funda- 
mentally social  purpose,  namely,  the  welfare  of  all  the  will- 
ing-to-be-industrious members  of  society. 

The  capitalist  class,  as  such,  would  cease  to  exist. 

The  working  class,  as  such,  would  cease  to  exist. 

All — all  the  people  would  be  in  full,  vital,  unhindered,  un- 
robbed  connection  with  the  industrial  foundations  of  society, 
the  chief  material  means  of  production.  All  people  of  proper 
age  and  condition  of  health  would  become  workers.  Indus- 
trial class  lines  would  disappear.  Industrial  mastery  would 
disappear.     Industrial  dependence  would  disappear. 

This  would  be  the  foundation  of  industrial  democracy. 

This  would  be  reorganization. 

This  would  be  revolution. 

A  revolution  is  a  rapid,  fundamental  change  in  a  funda- 
mental institution. 

The  rapid  reorganization  of  industry  into  the  form  called 
the  trust  is  a  revolution — now  in  process. 

The  trust  magnates  are  revolutionists — so  far  as  it  suits 
their  economic  interests. 

Revolutions  are  neither  noisy  nor  bloody,  unless  there  is 
violent  effort  to  prevent  the  growth  of  society. 

As  to  the  matter  of  being  afraid  of  revolutions:    Why 


302  WAR— WHAT  FORf 

should  we  clap  our  hands  in  praise  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tionists (who  employed  sword,  rifle,  bayonet  and  cannon  in 
their  revolution)  and  then  harshly  condemn  the  peaceful 
Socialists  who  stand  for  peace  in  all  parts  of  the  world  and 
always  urge  the  orderly  methods  of  procedure  in  accomplish- 
ing the  revolution  (the  fundamental  change)  they  seek  to 
effect. 

Don't  he  afraid. 

Fortunately  millions  of  American  school  hoys  and  girls 
are  required  to  commit  to  memory  the  following  words  of 
splendid  defiance  and  self-respect: 

"We  hold  these  truths  to  be  self  evident:  .  .  .  That  gov- 
ernments are  instituted  among  men,  deriving  their  just 
powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed;  that  whenever  any 
form  of  government  becomes  destructive  of  these  ends  (the 
inalienable  rights  .  .  .  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happi- 
ness) it  is  the  right  of  the  people  to  alter  or  abolish  it,  and  to 
institute  a  new  government,  laying  its  foundation  on  such 
principles,  and  organizing  its  powers  in  such  form  as  to 
them  shall  seem  most  likely  to  effect  their  safety  and  hap- 
piness. .  .  .  When  a  long  train  of  abuses  and  usurpations, 
pursuing  invariably  the  same  object,  evinces  a  design  to  re- 
duce them  under  an  absolute  despotism,  it  is  their  right, 
it  is  their  duty,  to  throw  off  such  government  and 
to  provide  new  guards  for  their  future  security." — American 
Declaration  of  Independence. 

Don't  be  afraid. 

"The  State  must  from  time  to  time  readjust  the  relation  of 
govermnent  to  liberty.  ...  As  the  people  of  the  State  advance  in 
civilization,  the  domain  of  liberty  must  be  widened." — Professor 
John  W.  Burgess,  Head  of  Department  of  Political  Science,  Colum- 
bia University.* 

Don't  be  afraid. 

The  time  has  come  for  the  workers  to  use  their  political 
liberty  to  secure  industrial  liberty — to  "widen  the  domain  of 
liberty,"  to  secure  a  fair  race,  to  secure  equality  of  opportu- 
nity. 


Political  Science  and  Constitutional  Law,  Vol.  I.,  p.  87. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  9  303 

Equality?      Yes, — equality    of    opportunity.      Certainly. 

Why  not? 

"A  race  that  is  fair  requires  an  equal  start.  .  .  .  The  state  must 
aim  at  perpetual  renewal  of  the  opportunities  of  life  in  every  man 
and  class  of  men." — Dr.  John  Bascom,  Ex-President  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Wisconsin.* 

Don't  be  afraid. 

There  will  be  no  noise,  no  bloodshed ;  all  will  be  orderly, 
legal  and  sociable — unless  the  capitalists  anarchistically  re- 
fuse to  obey  the  law.  In  that  case,  of  course,  the  roused, 
proud  and  powerful  working  class  will  do  whatever  is  made 
necessary  by  the  anarchistic  capitalists. 

Be  it  remembered — distinctly: 

The  roused  working  class,  roused  to  self-respect, 

ROUSED  to  clearness  OF  VISION  BY  THE  STUDY  OF  THE  FACTS, 
ROUSED  TO  REALIZE  THE  WRONGS  THRUST  INTO  THE  LIVES  OF 
THE  WORKERS  PAST  AND  PRESENT,  ROUSED  TO  SEE  THEIR 
RIGHTS  AND  REALIZE  THEIR  POWER  AS  A  CLASS, — SUCH  A 
WORKING  CLASS  WILL  BE  A  WHOLLY  DIFFERENT  CLASS  FROM 
THE  PRESENT  MEEK,  WEAK,  CHEATED  GRATEFUL  SLAVES. 

Don't  be  afraid. 

We  are  weary  of  Antagonism. 

We  seek  Mutualism. 

The  American  Eevolutionists  said  plainly  in  their 
Declaration  that  it  is  a  duty  to  reorganize  society,  under 
certain  circumstances. 

We  recognize  our  duty. 

We  make  no  cheap  and  noisy  boast  of  insulting  defiance. 

We  see  our  goal — Peace  and  Freedom. 

We  shall  build  Peace  and  Freedom  into  the  Structure  of 
Society. 

We  scorn  any  wheedler  who  would  betray  us  from  the 
correct,  direct  path  to  our  goal. 

We  accept  any  challenge  from  those  who  would  by  force 
defeat  us. 

Social  reconstruction — that  is  our  plain  duty. 


Sociology,  pp.  45,  47. 


304  WAR— WHAT  FOR  9 

Thus  we  of  the  working  class  must,  to  this  extent,  unify, 
— that  is,  mutualize,  socialize, — society. 

The  class  aggression  of  the  capitalist  class  would  cease 
with  the  disappearance  of  the  capitalist  class  in  the  recon- 
structed society.  And  the  class  resistance  by  the  working 
class  would  cease  with  the  disappearance  of  the  robbing  of 
the  workers  in  the  reconstructed  society. 

Thus  would  disappear  the  unsocial  clashing  of  class  in- 
terests— the  class  struggle.  And  thus  also  would  disappear 
the  dominant  motives  for  "foreign"  wars  and  "civil"  wars. 

Thus  the  working  class  could  remove  war — both  from 
the  shop  and  from  the  battlefield. 

Thus  we  would  inaugurate  peace  simply  by  removing  the 
cause  of  war. 

Is  a  political  'party  of  the  tvorJcing  class  necessary  for  this 
political  work  of  the  working  class? 

To  accomplish  the  work  of  industrial  reconstruction  we 
must  first  secure  the  political  powers  of  government  and  thus 
secure  the  right,  the  legal  right,  and  legal  power  to  do  this 
work. 

A  POLITICAL  PARTY  IS  SIMPLY  A  LEGITIMATED  ORGANIZA- 
TION  AVITH  WHICH  TO  SEIZE  AND  USE  SOVEREIGN  POWER — TO 

BECOME  AUTHORITY.     (See  page  280.) 

The  political  power  and  privilege  necessary  to  accomplish 
this  industrial  reconstruction  of  society — this  political  power 
and  privilege — can  be  secured  only  by  means  of  a  political 
party;  and  that  party  must,  of  course,  be  a  party  wholly 
committed  to  this  industrial  reconstruction  of  society.* 

*  "It  is  the  peculiarity  of  the  social  struggle  that  it  must  be 
conducted  by  a  collective  whole  .  .  .  every  society  [or  class]  must 
SECURE  SOME  SUITABLE  ORGAN  FOE  CONDUCTING  THE  SOCIAL  STRUGGLE. 

"Thus  the  ruling  classes,  through  their  parliaments,  exercise 
the  legislative  power  and  are  able,  by  legal  institutions,  to  fur- 
ther their  interests  at  the  cost  of  others.  .  .  .  Thus  the  rulers  them- 
selves forge  the  weapons  with  which  the  ruled  and  powerless  classes 
successfully  attack  them  and  complete  the  natural  process." — 
Gumplowitz:  Outlines  of  Sociology,  pp.  145-146.  Italics  mine. 
G.  R.  K. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO  ?  305 

Only  a  political  party  of  the  working  class  can  be  six- 
CERELY  committed  to  this  work  of  industrial  reconstruction 
for  the  working  class.  Indeed,  no  political  party  stand- 
ing FOR  ANY  FORM  OF  CAPITALISM  WILL  PERMIT  ITSELF  TO 
BE  SINCERELY  COMMITTED  TO  THIS  PROMPT,  THOROUGH  IN- 
DUSTRIAL RECONSTRUCTION. 

Therefore,  banded  together  in  a  political  party  of  the 
working  class  the  workers 

must  seize  the  political  powers  to  make  laws, 

must  seize  the  political  powers  to  interpret  laws, 

must  seize  the  political  powers  to  enforce  laws. 

Then  and  then  only  shall  we  be  in  position  by  legally 
possessing  the  power  to  defend  ourselves,  our  class. 

Then  and  then  only  shall  we  be  in  position  to  destroy  the 
parasitic  class  aggression,  the  class  robbery,  out  of  which 
grows  the  class  struggle — the  civil  war  in  the  shop,  and  the 
war,  the  civil  war,  of  the  toilstained  brothers  of  the  working 
class  on  the  battlefield. 

Then,  and  then  only,  shall  we  be  in  best  position  to  de- 
clare war  against  war. 

Then  we  shall  cease  forever  to  foolishly  wet  the  earth 
with  our  blood  and  tears  and  cease  to  be  robbed  in  the  shop 
and  factory;  and  then  we  shall  claim  our  own,  a  greater  life. 

The  only  safety  therefore  for  the  working  people  in  all 
lands  is  to  organize  themselves  into  a  political  party,  an  in- 
ternational political  party,  of  the  working  class,  a7id  patiently 
build  their  party  big  enough  for  each  national  group  of  work- 
ers to  seize  the  political  powers  of  government  in  their  own 
country — always,  everywhere,  loudly  declaring  war  against 
war. 

There  is  but  one  working  class  political  party  on  all  the 
earth.  That  party  sincerely  proclaims:  "Freedom  for  the 
working  class!  No  more  war!"  And  loudly  and  patiently 
that  party  sounds  an  immortal  call  of  brotherhood  to  all 
the  workers  on  all  the  blood-stained  earth : — "Workingmen 
of  all  countries,  unite.  You  have  nothing  to  lose  but  your 
chains;  you  have  a  world  to  gain." 

That  working-class  party  is  the  Socialist  Party. 


306  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

Already  this  working  class  party,  loudly  calling,  "Free- 
dom in  the  shop  and  freedom  from  the  battlefield" — already 
this  party  is  beginning  to  save  the  blood  and  tears  and  homes 
and  joys  of  the  working  class. 

Every  working  man  and  woman  should  learn — and  teach 
the  children  to  recite  at  school — the  following  page  of  his- 
tory, four  historic  events : 

First  Event:  In  1847  two  men,  geniuses,  wrote  a  very 
small,  but  powerful  book.*  The  book  was  published  in  IS-iS. 
Kings,  emperors,  tsars  and  presidents  have  turned  pale  when 
their  common  people  began  to  understand  that  small  book.  The 
first  proposition  in  that  astonishing  book  is :  "The  [recorded] 
history  of  all  hitherto  existing  society  is  the  history  of  class 
struggles."  That  is  a  great  fact.  Pack  it  into  your  mind. 
That  sentence  has  opened  wide  the  mental  windows  of  mil- 
lions of  working  men — and  women.  The  last  sentence  of  that 
book  of  social  lightning  is  this : — "Workingmen  of  all  coun- 
tries, unite.  You  have  nothing  to  lose  but  your  chains,  you 
have  a  world  to  gain!"  That  is  a  sublime  call.  That  call 
has  thrilled  millions  of  weary  working-class  people.  Every 
year  it  thrills  millions  more.  Some  day  that  call  will  enter 
your  soul.  Then  you  will  know  the  meaning  of  this  next 
event. 

Second  Event:  In  1870  two  distinguished  crowned  as- 
sassins sent  hundreds  of  thousands  of  working  men  to  the 
boundary  between  France  and  Germany  to  butcher  and  be 
butchered.f  Even  then — forty  years  ago — the  shrewdest 
workers  in  Germany,  France  and  other  European  countries 
realized  what  war  meant  for  the  working  class.  These  men 
were  banded  together  in  the  International  Working-Men's 
Association.  These  keen,  studious  toilers  warned  the  work- 
ing class  against  the  war.  In  1870  they  sent  out  this  general 
announcement:  "They  (the  members  of  the  International 
Working-Men's  Association)  feel  deeply  convinced  that  what- 
ever turn  the  impending  horrid  war  may  take,  the  alliance 
of  the  working  classes  of  all  countries  will  ultimately  kill 

*  The  Communist  Manifesto. 

•f-  Reread  Chapter  Seven,  Section  4. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  307 

war."  The  Paris  l)ranch  of  the  International  issued  an  ad- 
dress saying:  "French,  German,  Spanish  working  men! 
Let  our  voices  unite  in  a  cry  of  reprobation  against  war. 
.  .  .  Working  men  of  all  countries !  Whatever  may  be  the 
result  of  our  common  efforts,  we  members  of  the  International 
Association  of  Working-Men,  who  know  no  frontiers,  we  send 
you,  as  a  pledge  of  indissoluble  solidarity,  the  good  wishes 
and  the  salutation  of  the  workingmen  of  France."  The 
Berlin  section  of  the  International  finely  responded :  "We 
join  with  you  heart  and  hand  in  protestation.  .  ,  .  Solemnly 
we  promise  you  that  neither  the  noise  of  drums  nor  the 
thunder  of  cannon,  neither  victory  nor  defeat,  shall  turn  us 
aside  from  our  work  for  the  union  of  the  workingmen  of 
all  countries."  German  delegates  at  Chemnitz,  Saxony, 
representing  fifty  thousand  workingmen  also  made  noble 
reply:  "We  are  happy  to  grasp  the  fraternal  hand  stretched 
out  to  us  by  the  workingmen  of  France.  .  .  .  We  shall  never 
forget  that  the  workingmen  of  all  countries  are  our  friends, 
and  the  despots  of  all  countries  our  enemies." 

The  grand  old  International  has  become  the  Socialist 
Party  of  our  day.  The  Socialist  Party  is  indeed  the  political 
party  of  the  working  class. 

In  recent  years  election  returns  show  in  one  country, 
the  best  educated  country  in  Europe,  this  political  party  of 
the  working  class,  the  Socialist  Party,  with  over  three  million 
four  hundred  thousand  serious,  loyal  workingmen  banded 
together  voting  solidly  together.  Every  year  a  larger  and  larger 
number  of  them  taJce  their  seats  in  the  ivorld's  leading  legisla- 
tures. In  ten  countries  in  Europe  this  party  has  from  one 
to  eighty  members  of  the  working  class  in  the  national  legis- 
latures in  legal  position  to  defend  "the  working  class.  And 
right  vigorously  these  brave  working-class  comrades  have  de- 
fended the  working  class  in  every  possible  way  they  could. 
With  the  increasing  election  victories  of  this  working-class 
party,  the  working  class  have  increasing  power  to  defend 
themselves.  And  everywhere  this  party  is  down  on  war.  The 
influence  of  this  party  has  already  been  effectively  exerted 
against  war.     The  vast  influence  of  this  party  against  war  is 


308  WAR— WHAT  FOB? 

admitted  by  the  most  bitter  and  jDOwerful  enemies  of  the 
working  class. 

Third  Event:  In  1905-6  the  Norwegian  and  the 
Swedish  armies  (working  men,  of  course)  were  ordered  to 
the  front  to  butcher  one  another.  They  were  assembled  at 
the  national  boundary.  Tens  of  thousands  of  homes  were 
desolate.  Fear  was  an  agony  in  the  hearts  of  a  multitude  of 
women  and  children.  Reporters  were  present  from  all  parts 
of  the  world  to  flash  the  news  of  the  butchery  around  the  earth. 
The  capitalist  coffin  trust  was  exceedingly  glad,  business  was 
about  to  pick  up.  Gilt-braided  buccaneer  commanders  were 
about  to  shout :     "Form  !     Fire !     Charge  !     Slaughter !" 

"Everything  was  ready" — it  seemed. 

Then  something  happened — something  sublime  and  new 
in  the  sad  and  "somber  march  of  mankind." 

No  sword  was  drawn. 

No  cannon  roared. 

No  Gatling  gun  mowed  down  thousands. 

No  wild  cavalry  charged. 

No  hospital  became  a  hell  of  cursing,  groaning,  screaming, 
mangled  men. 

Yet  "everything  was  ready" — ready  to  defend  the  sacred 
honor  of  "royal"  and  "noble"  coward  parasites. 

Everything  was  ready  except  one  thing — the  consent  of 
the  working  class. 

The  conscripted  Socialist  soldiers  in  both  armies  and  the 
Socialists  everywhere  throughout  both  countries  had  passed 
the  sign  of  worhing-class  brotherhood  all  through  both  armies 
and  through  botli  countries:  "We  working  class  men  are 
brothers.  Let  us  not  slit  the  veins  of  our  own  class  simply 
to  satisfy  the  vicious  pride  of  snobbish  masters.  Let  us  save 
our  own  blood  and  tears." 

This  international  brothers'  cry  was  like  a  splendid  flash  of 
lightning  at  midnight.  Brothers  saw  brothers,  working-class 
brothers,  in  the  night,  the  midnight  of  capitalism.  The  soul 
of  the  working  class  in  both  these  countries  flashed  response: 
"Brothers !  Brothers  !  We  understand  !"  The  human  race 
seemed  to  smile.     The  Swedish  and  the  Norwegian  soldiers 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  309 

mingled.     These  armed  workers  fraternized.     Armed  men 
embraced  armed  men.    They  shouted  and  wept — for  joy. 

They  sneered  at  the  frowns  of  their  commanders.    Proudly 
and  promptly  they  refused  to  butcher  and  be  butchered.* 
.  That  settled  it.    There  was  no  war. 

There  can  not  be  war  unless  the  working  class  agree  to  it. 

No  working  men  were  butchered,  and  the  international 
misunderstanding  had  to  be  settled  without  opening  the  blood 
vessels  of  the  toilers.  For  of  course  you  know,  reader,  that 
the  broadclothed  capitalist  snobs  of  these  countries  were  too 
cowardly  to  fight  the  war  themselves. 

And  now  there  are  many  more  happy  homes,  happy  wives, 
happy  mothers  and  happy  children  in  Norway  and  Sweden 
than  there  would  have  been  if  the  humble  working  people 
of  these  two  countries  had  permitted  a  precious  lot  of  gilt- 
edged  cowards  to  excite  them  and  confuse  them  and  then 
"sic"  them  at  one  another's  throats. 

Fourth  Event:  Very  recently,  in  1906-7,  the  Socialist 
Party  in  Germany  and  France  prevented  war  between  Ger- 
many and  France  over  the  "Morocco  affair."  This  is  ad- 
mitted even  by  distinguished  European  enemies  of  the  So- 
cialist Party.  This  threatened  war  might  easily  have  cost 
five  hundred  thousand  lives — working-class  lives — and  five 
billions  of  treasure  and  desolated  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
homes  and  darkened  both  countries  with  an  international 
hatred  lasting  half  a  century. 

But  the  Socialists  blocked  the  game. 

Again  and  again  in  their  International  Congresses  the 
Socialists  have  protested  against  war  and  militarism  as  being, 
for  the  working  class,  nothing  but  a  burden  and  a  curse.f 

*  Fearing  that  the  powerful  suggestion  might  reach  and  rouse 
the  slumbering  working  class  tlie  capitalist  press  of  the  world  kept 
silent  as  an  oyster  on  the  behavior  of  the  clear-visioned  soldiers 
of  Norway  and  Sweden.  Only  the  working ■c\ass  press  properly 
reported  the  sublime  event.     (See  Challenge,  page  206  et  seq.) 

■f  For  an  excellent  and  convenient  discussion  of  the  Socialist 
Party's  opposition  to  war  and  militarism,  see  Werner  Sorabart's 
Socialism  and  the  Socialist  Movement,  pp.  193-211;  Morris  Hill- 
quit's  Socialism  in  Theory  and  Practice,  pp.  296-302. 


310  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

Political  masters  and  industrial  masters  on  all  the  earth 
— these  recognize  the  Socialist  Party  as  the  Working-ClasB 
Political  Party.* 

You,  my  brother,  should  also  recognize  the  Socialist 
Party  as  your  own  Working-Class  Political  Party. 

Eeread  propositions  numbered  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  and  6,  p.  300. 

The  outline  of  industrial  reconstruction  there  given  in 
the  six  propositions  is  the  outline  of  the  constructive  plat- 
form and  program  of  the  working-class  political  party,  the 
Socialist  Party,  everywhere.f 

Because  the  Socialist  Party  recognizes  and  points  out 
the  clash  of  class  interests  in  the  present  class-labor  system; 

Because  the  Socialist  Party  proposes  industrial  freedom 
for  the  working  class; 

Because  the  Socialist  Party  proposes  the  destruction  of 
the  class-labor  system  called  capitalism; 

Because  the  Socialist  Party  proposes  that  every  person 
who  renders  useful  social  service  shall  have  the  value  of  his 
service — undiminished  by  the  modem  legalized  forms  of  filch- 
ing, namel}^,  rent,  interest  and  profits; 

Because  the  Socialist  Party  proposes  that  the  working 
class  band  together  and  save  themselves; 


*  "It  is  no  easy  task  to  detect  and  follow  the  tiny  paths  of 
progress  which  the  unencumbered  proletarian  with  nothing  but  his 
life  and  capacity  for  labor  is  pointing  out  for  us.  These  paths 
lead  to  a  type  of  government  founded  upon  peace  and  fellowship 
as  contrasted  with  restraint  and  defence.  .  .  .  From  the  nature  of  the 
case,  he  who  would  walk  these  paths  must  walk  with  the  poor  and 
oppressed,  and  can  only  approach  them  through  affection  and  un- 
fierstanding.  The  ideals  of  militarism  would  forever  shut  him  out 
from  this  new  fellowship." — Miss  Jane  Addams,  of  Hull  House, 
Chicago:    Hi  ewer  Ideals  of  Peace,  p.  30. 

I  The  class  who  despise  you  so  thoroughly  that  they  would  be 
willing  to  have  you  murdered  on  the  battlefield — would  these  hesitate 
to  tell  you  a  lief  Certainly  not.  And  they  have  lied  to  you  about 
"different  kinds  of  Socialism,"  "Socialists  don't  seem  to  know  what 
they  want,"  etc.,  etc.  But  secretly  the  capitalists  are  worrying 
because  they  know  that  the  Socialists  of  all  the  world  do  know 
what  they  want  and  also  know  how  to  organize  the  necessary  power 
to  get  what  they  want. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  311 

For  such  reasons  the  Socialist  Party  is  the  Political  Party 
of  the  Working  Class. 

The  Socialists  urge: 

That  no  longer  shall  the  workers  whimper  for  the  protecting 
wings  of  that  strange  political  bird,  that  large  male  angel, 
called  a  "good  man"; 

That  no  longer  shall  the  workers  childishly  accept  the 
treacherous  advice  from  political  stalking  horses,  called 
political  "reformers,"  and  "political  saviors"; 

That  no  longer  shall  the  workers  rest  in  dull  dependence 
upon  the  advice  of  eager-to-be-elevated  capitalist  "leaders  of 
the  people"; 

That  no  longer  shall  the  workers  go  guUibly  chasing  after 
still-fed  "statesmen"  on  election  day; 

That  no  longer  shall  the  workers  rest  in  dull  dependence 
door  of  legislative  halls  teasing  smooth,  stall-fed  capitalist 
"statesmen"  for  labor  legislation; 

That  the  workers  band  together  and  emancipate  them- 
selves from  war,  from  the  wholesale  robbery,  tyranny  and 
blood-letting  of  Capitalism. 

With  heads  and  hearts  and  hopes  together  the  working 
class  should  read  together,  study  together,  reason  together, 
band  together,  struggle  together,  and  altogether  in  a  political 
party  of  the  working  class  stand  together  and  vote  together 
and  capture  the  power  of  government  for  the  freedom  and 
protection  of  the  working  class. 

Let  us  respect  our  own  working  class. 

Let  us  have  faith  in  our  own  working  class. 

Let  us  protect  ourselves. 

"Let  us  get  up  off  our  knees — and  our  masters  won't 
seem  so  tall." 

Down  with  industrial  despotism  and  its  wars ! 

Up  with  industrial  democracy  and  its  peace ! 

(Before  reading  the  following  paragraphs  examine  last 
four  pages  of  Chapter  Six,  paragraph  headed:  "A  Special 
Warning  to  the  Working  Class  of  the  United  States.") 


313  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

One  more  word  here: 

Brothers,  beware ! 

With  pride  and  defiance  hold  up  your  heads — and  think. 

Prepare  to  say:     "WE  EEFUSE." 

Beware.    Another  war  is  brewing. 

"Another  war  is  necessary!" — ^your  betrayers  will  pres- 
ently tell  you. 

True!  From  the  capitalist's  point  of  view  another  war 
will,  indeed,  presently  be  necessary;  another  war  becomes 
more  and  more  imperatively  necessary — and  for  a  new  and 
increasing  reason. 

The  much  plundered  working  people  are  beginning  to 
think.  Thought  is  revolutionary.  A  thought  is  a  file,  a  keen 
saw,  with  which  a  soul  may  escape  from  the  gloomy  dungeon 
of  prejudice.  Thought  is  intellectual  nitro-glycerine  for 
blasting  the  flinty  mountains  of  prejudice.  Thought  utterly 
destroys  mental  rubbish.  Thought  kills  what  ought  to  die. 
Thinking  slaves  promptly  become  defiant  and  dare  to  do  for 
freedom.    Thought  kills — kills  slavery. 

Thought,  however,  can  still  be  prevented.  Even  the  splen- 
did thought  of  peace  and  freedom  can  still  be  strangled  in  a 
wild  delirium  called  "patriotic"  war.  Hence  every  purchas- 
able educated  human  thing  with  influence  must  play  its  prosti- 
tute part  in  resurrecting  and  perpetuating  the  ferocious 
thirst  for  war. 

For  capitalist  purposes  another  war  is  necessary. 

Therefore  strangle  brotherliness. 

Therefore  stifle  man's  grand  sweet  dream  of  peace. 

A  fat  living  of  domineering  idleness  for  industrial  pirates 
and  their  pampered  pets  and  shameless  hangers-on  is  not 
much  longer  possible,  unless  the  masters  as  usual  can  set  the 
working  people  clutching  at  one  another's  throats,  draining 
one  another's  sweat  and  blood  in  a  hateful  spasm  of  inter- 
national epilepsy  called  "patriotic"  war. 

Therefore  drug  the  working  people. 

Therefore  read  again  to  the  weary  multitude  the  goriest 
pages  of  history,  and  declare  to  them  that  an  act  must  be 
soaked  in  a  brother's  blood  before  it  is  magnificent,     The 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  313 

people  must  lust  again  for  another  savage  storm  of  stupid 
wrath  called  war. 

Therefore  we  see  the  war-flag  of  capitalism  shrewdly 
waved  before  the  bulging,  easily  inflamed  eyes  of  the  multi- 
tude: "Good  fighters — war";  "young  men  not  only  willing, 
but  anxious  to  fight — war";  "heroes,  heroes — war";  "glory, 
military  glory — war" ;  "noble,  noble  soldiers — war" ;  "ours  the 
most  improved  arms  in  the  world — war";  "greatest  navy  on 
earth — war";  "splendid  victories — war";  "better  militia — 
larger  army — war";  "our  national  honor — war";  "we  never 
surrender — war";  "America  in  the  Orient — war";  "we  must 
defend  our  foreign  markets — war" ;  "see  the  brave  boys  behind 
the  guns — war";  "send  the  fleets  around  the  earth  and  dare 
the  world  to  war";  "we  are  all  ready  for  war,  war,  war"; — 
over  and  over  this  oratorical  flag,  this  Christless  vocabulary 
of  blood-spilling  cruelty,  on  and  on,  year  after  year — till  these 
disgusting  phrases  steam  in  memory  with  the  spurting  blood 
of  the  long-mourned  slain. 

Another  war  is  necessary. 

Therefore  fill  the  trenches  with  the  carcasses  of  citizens 
and  with  fixed  bayonets  march  on — on — on  to  noisy  glory,  on 
to  the  red  madness  of  the  brutal  battlefield.  This  is  the 
pagan  text  of  literary  and  oratorical  hirelings  before  a  na- 
tion of  Christians  and  peaceful  Jews;  this  is  the  loveless 
refrain  bellowed  before  blushing  school  girls;  this  is  the 
Alexandrian  slogan  before  excitable,  impressible  boys;  this 
is  the  gore-stained  banner  to  be  gallantly  flaunted  on  holi- 
days before  the  tear-wet  eyes  of  the  sad  old  widows  and 
the  hobbling  cripples  of  the  Civil  War;  this  is  the  race-curs- 
ing call  to  ninety  millions  of  people  sick  of  stupidly  disput- 
ing with  sword  and  cannon,  longing  to  embrace  one  another 
in  caressing  f  raternalism.  Hideous  echoes  of  the  cruel  voice  of 
Caesar,  savage  whoop  from  the  tomb  of  Napoleon,  the  assassin 
of  France,  barbarous  yell  from  the  war-cursed  plains  of  the 
long,  long  ago — this — yes,  this  is  the  sublime  height  reached 
by  the  average  orthodox  teacher  and  preacher  of  patriotism. 

And  from  all  parts  of  this  thinly  veiled  despotism  of  foxy, 
industrial  tsars,  comes  enthusiastic  afproval  of  all  such  teach- 


314  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

mg; — approval  from  the  profit-stuffed  leeches  whose  pout- 
ing lips  suck  and  tug  at  the  veins  of  the  toiling  multitude; 
approval  from  the  supercilious  snobs  at  Palm  Beach,  Newport 
and  Monte  Carlo;  approval  from  the  editorial  intellectual 
prostitutes  of  a  subsidized  press;  approval  from  the  "leading 
citizens"  that  roll  contemptuously  along  carefully  smoothed 
streets  in  rubber-tired  carriages  and  from  those  who  sneer 
through  the  palace  car  windows  at  the  common  "hired  hands" 
who  man  the  trains  and  keep  the  track  in  repair;  approval 
from  the  masters  who  own  the  mills  and  mines  and  stick  out 
their  tongues  in  scorn  at  the  hundreds  of  thousands  out  of 
work  or  on  strike  for  a  few  cents  more  a  day;  approval 
from  the  "great  business  men"  who  search  the  earth  for 
markets  for  goods  produced  by  the  sweating  wage-slaves 
shrewdly  kept  too  poor  to  buy  what  their  own  weary  minds 
and  their  puffed  and  blistered  hands  create;  and,  saddest  of 
all,  approval  from  the  millions  of  shame-faced  wage-earners 
viciously  seduced  with  ironically  empty  "prosperity"  phrases, 
chloroformed  with  pompous  military  rhetoric,  stupified 
with  the  proud  strut  and  cheap  swagger  of  "prominent" 
and  "cultivated"  vulgarians — yes,  approval  also  from  these 
modest  modern  slaves  through  whose  veins  seems  to  slip  the 
inherited  taint  of  long,  low-bowing  servitude. 

Another  war  is  "necessary." 

Therefore  from  Mississippi  to  Minnesota  and  from  Florida 
to  Oregon  there  is  a  wide-grinning  chuckle  of  lip-smacking 
satisfaction  in  the  palaces  and  club-houses  of  America's  in- 
dustrial masters  when  the  easily  deceived  multitude  clap 
their  calloused  palms  in  thoughtless  approval  as  the  bribed 
orator  makes  fierce  visaged  War  stalk  with  hypnotic  fascina- 
tion across  the  stage  before  the  plain  deludable  people.  The 
people's  delight  in  arms  is  thus  artfully  deepened; — and 
thus  and  therefore  both  the  walls  of  prejudice  and  the  de- 
fiant fortresses  of  glittering  steel — ^behind  which  the  gorged 
masters  of  the  multitude  have  for  ages  fattened  and  threat- 
ened in  security — these  fortresses  of  prejudice  and  force  are 
with  increasing  diligence  made  stronger  with  every  possible 
opportunity,  made  stronger  by  every  possible  means. 


WHAT  SHALL  WE  DO?  315 

Another  war  ? 

Expect  it  and  prepare  for  it  by  resolving  not  to  go  to 
the  next  war  till  the  bankers  and  statesmen  have  been  bleed- 
ing on  the  firing  line  for  at  least  six  weeks. 

Yes — yes,  it  is  true  that  the  employers'  fortress  of  riot- 
guns  is  still  strong,  defiantly  strong.  No  doubt  the  rent-interest- 
and-profit  game,  the  game  of  gouge  and  grab  and  keep,  will 
be  played  securely  yet  a  while  by  the  plunder-bloated  masters 
of  our  great  and  glorious  country.  Undoubtedly  millions  of 
our  thoughtless  young  working  class  men  are  still  ready  for 
plutocratic  Senators  and  Congressmen  and  uncrowned  cruelty 
in  the  White  House  to  craftily  yell :  "Sic  'em,  boys,  sic  'em." 

But  light  breaks. 

Everywhere,  every  day  the  toilers  of  the  world  listen — 
listen  more  respectfully,  listen  more  intelligently,  listen  more 
gratefully  to  the  glad  new  gospel  of  justice  and  peace. 

The  change  comes  and  come  it  must.  That  cruel  spell 
wrought  over  the  mind  of  the  multitude  by  the  bribed  ora- 
tor, by  the  purchased  writer,  by  the  blood-lusting  "man  on 
horseback,"  and  by  the  far-looking  masters  of  industry — that 
spell  will  be,  must  be,  broken.  The  iron  shackles  on  the 
wrists  and  ankles  of  the  toilers  have  already  been  broken. 
The  wage-slaves'  shackles  also  must  be  rended,  not  only  the 
industrial,  but  the  mental  slavery  of  the  modern  workers  must 
be  destroyed. 

And  comes  now  swiftly  forward  that  soft-toned,  but  all- 
conquering  gospel  of  peace  and  freedom — freedom  for  the 
dumb,  voiceless  multitude,  now  deadened  with  the  deafening 
roar  of  machinery,  deadened  with  the  stifling  dust  and  with- 
ering heat  of  the  mills,  deadened  with  the  poisonous  gases 
in  the  mines,  freedom  for  the  multitude  soon  to  be  glad, 
happy,  loving,  laughing  in  the  commonwealth  of  co-operation, 
of  mutualism,  of  fraternalism — of  Socialism. 

Courage,  courage.  Put  the  strong  shoulders  of  your 
twelve  million  ballots  to  the  "stalled  world's  wheel"  and  push. 
Strike.     March.     Dawnward  toward  peace. 

Know  this,  you  toil-tormented  horde:  That  shrewd  jug- 
gler's word  war — word  with  which  the  swinishly  selfish  mas- 


316  WAR— WHAT  FOBf 

ters  have  for  ages  seduced  the  gullible  multitude  into  the 
ditches  across  which  those  same  masters  have  then  rolled  on 
sneering,  snickering  and  safe,  that  spell-working  word  reek- 
ing with  the  blood-rotting  stench  of  centuries,  that  word  war 
and  all  that  that  word  war  now  stands  for  must  be  stricken 
from  the  language  of  brothers,  struck  from  the  affairs  of 
mankind, — forgotten  forever — forever  replaced  by  the  sweet- 
ening peace  and  the  sane  abiding  power  of  warless  Social- 
ism. 

Brothers  of  the  working  class,  wherever  you  are  on  all  the 
earth,  let  us  all  say,  altogether: 

Peace  is  patriotism  to  mankind. 

We  do  not  want  other  people's  Mood  and  we  refuse  to 
waste  our  own. 

For  thousands  of  years  the  ruling  class  have  bled  us  pale. 
All  cannon  have  always  been  aimed  at  us — ^by  us. 

We  did  not  see.  Our  eyes  were  blinded  with  our  own 
blood;  our  minds  were  paralyzed  vrith  lies. 

But  now  we  see.  Now  we  understand.  And  therefore 
now  we  stand  erect  in  self-respect.  Now  in  sincere  fellow- 
ship we  extend  the  right  hand  of  brotherhood  to  all  the 
working  men — and  to  all  the  women  and  to  all  the  children 
— of  the  whole  world ;  and  to  all  these  we  promise : 

We  will  not  fight. 

We  refuse  to  plunge  bayonets  into  one  another's  breasts. 

We  refuse  to  slay  the  fathers  of  tender  children. 

We  refuse  to  murder  the  brothers  and  lovers  of  women. 

We  refuse  to  butcher  the  husbands  of  devoted  wives. 

We  refuse  to  "Hurrah"  over  victories  that  break  the  heart 
and  blind  the  world  with  tears. 

We  refuse  the  cheap  role  of  Armed  Guard — as  the  salaried 
assassins  in  the  service  of  the  plunder-bloated  coward  ruling 
class. 

If  the  masters  want  blood  let  them  cut  their  own  throats. 


CHAPTER   ELEVEN. 
A  Short  Lesson  In  the  Histoty  of  the  Working  Class. 

(A  very  careful  distinction  should  always  be  made  between 
those  who  abuse  and  those  who  nobly  use  great  offices  and 
powers.) 

"We  have  repeatedly  pointed  out  that  every  social  institution 
weaves  a  protecting  integument  of  glossy  idealization  about  itself 
like  a  colony  of  caterpillars  in  an  appletree.  For  instance,  wherever 
militarism  rules,  war  is  idealized  by  moniunents  and  paintings, 
poetry  and  song.  The  stench  of  the  hospitals  and  the  maggots  of 
the  battlefield  are  passed  in  silence,  and  the  imagination  of  the 
people  is  filled  with  waving  plumes  and  the  shout  of  charging 
columns." — Professor  Walter  Rauschenbusch,  Rochester  Theological 
Seminary.* 

Knowledge  of  the  history  of  the  working  class, 
which  includes  the  history  op  war,  will  cement  the 
workers  inseparably  together — socially,  industrially 
and  politically,  and  will  thus  many  times  multiply 
their  power  for  self-defence. 

When  the  working  class  understand  the  history  of  the 
working  class,  a  bronze  monument  erected  in  honor  of  a 
great  general  will  look  to  the  workers  like  a  vote  of  thanks 
to  the  Superintendent  of  Hell,  and  an  ornamental  cannon 
in  a  public  park  will  look  like  a  viper  on  a  banquet  table 
spread  for  a  feast  of  brothers. 

In  the  public  schools  of  the  world  the  history  of  the 
working  class  is  almost  wholly  neglected.  No  text-book  gives 
the  facts,  and  no  teacher  is  permitted  to  tell  the  truth — 
clearly — about  the  martyrdom  of  labor  since  the  dawn  of 
class-form,  "civilized"  society.  The  union  labor  men  and 
women  of  the  world  could  with  great  advantage  to  the  work- 
ing class  devote  a  few  thousand  dollars  for  the  expense  of 
a  five-hundred-page  book  summarizing:  The  History  of 
Labor— The  Tragedy  of  Toil. 


Christianity  and  the  Social  Crisis,  p.  350. 


318  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

(At  this  point  please  reread  first  two  pages  of  the  pre- 
face of  the  present  volume.) 

The  following  pages  are  offered  as  suggestions  for  a  half- 
hour  lesson  chiefly  on  the  origin  of  the  working  class.  It 
is  suggested  to  the  working  class  reader  that  he  teach  this 
lesson  to  the  children  of  his  family  and  of  his  neighborhood. 

Now,  no  living  thing  can  be  understood  without  a  study 
of  its  history,  and  the  study  of  the  history  of  a  living  thing 
requires  special  attention  to  the  origin  of  the  thing  studied. 
The  working  class  are  a  living  reality,  and  in  order  to  un- 
derstand themselves  the  working  class  must  study  their  class 
history — with  the  very  special  attention  to  their  origin  as 
a  class. 

Long,  long  ago — ^thousands  of  years  ago — our  ancestors 
lived  in  tribes.  These  tribes  grew,  expanded  till  finally  the 
pressure  of  population  forced  the  tribes  to  enlarge  their  terri- 
tories; and  thus  the  tribes  trespassed — aggressed  upon  one 
another's  territory. 

This  caused  wars — intertribal  wars. 

This  was  the  origin  of  war. 

This  led  to  the  opening  of  hell — for  the  workers. 

After  a  while  a  working  class  arose — and  began  to  fall 
into  hell.     Here  is  the  way  it  came  about: 

For  a  long  time  in  these  intertribal  wars  it  was  the  prac- 
tice to  take  no  prisoners  (except  the  younger  women),  but 
to  kill,  kill,  kill,  because  the  conquerors  had  no  use  for  the 
captive  men.  When,  however,  society  had  developed  indus- 
trially to  a  stage  enabling  the  victors  to  make  use  of  live 
men  as  work  animals,  that  new  industrial  condition  pro- 
duced a  new  idea — one  of  the  greatest  and  most  revolution- 
ary ideas  that  ever  flashed  in  the  human  brain;  and  that 
idea  was  simply  this: — A  live  man  is  worth  more  than  a 
dead  one,  if  you  can  make  use  of  him  as  a  work  animal. 
When  industrially  it  became  practicable  for  the  conquerors 
to  make  use  of  live  men  captured  in  war,  it  rapidly  became 
the  custom  to  take  prisoners,  save  them  alive,  beat  them  into 
submission — tame  them — and  thus  have  them  for  work  ani' 
mals,  human  work  animals. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  319 

Here  the  human  ox,  yoked  to  the  burdens  of  the  world, 
started  through  the  centuries,  centuries  sad  with  tears  and  red 
with  blood  and  fire. 

Thus  originated  a  class  of  workers,  the  working  class. 

Thus  also  originated  the  ruling  class.  Thus  originated 
the  "leading  citizens." 

Thus,  originally,  in  war,  the  workers  fell  into  the  bot- 
tomless gulf  of  misery.  It  was  thus  that  war  opened  wide 
the  devouring  jaws  of  hell  for  the  workers. 

Thus  was  human  society  long  ago  divided  into  industrial 
classes, — into  two  industrial  classes. 

Of  course  the  interests  of  these  two  classes  were  in  funda- 
mental conflict,  and  thus  originated  the  class  struggle. 

Of  course  the  ruling  class  were  in  complete  possession  and 
control  of  all  the  powers  of  government — and  of  course  they 
had  sense  enough  to  use  the  powers  of  government  to  defend 
their  own  class  interests. 

Of  course  the  ruling  class  made  all  the  laws  and  con- 
trolled all  institutions  in  the  interest  of  the  ruling  class — 
naturally. 

Of  course  the  ruling  class  socially  despised  the  slaves — 
that  is,  despised  the  working  class;  this  "upper"  class  felt 
contempt  for  the  "lower"  class — naturally;  and  thus  orig- 
inated the  social  degradation,  the  social  stigma  that  still 
sticks  to  the  working  class,  so  clearly  clings  to  the  workers 
that,  for  example,  the  banker's  daughter  does  not  marry  the 
wage-earning  carpenter;  the  mine-owner's  son  does  not 
marry  the  wage-earning  house-maid;  the  rank  and  file  of 
union  labor  are  not  welcome  in  the  palatial  parlors  and  ball- 
rooms where  the  "very  best  people"  are  sipping  the  best 
champagne  and  are  rhythmically  hugging  themselves  in  the 
dance;  the  servants,  both  white  and  black,  in  a  high-grade 
(high  class,  "upper"  class)  hotel  are  not  even  permitted  to 
take  a  drink  of  water  at  the  guests'  water  fountain  tho'  the 
guest-list  may  include  scores  of  blase  old  reprobates,  scores 
of  polygamous  parasites,  scores  of  the  most  infamous,  dollar- 
Justing,  law-breaking  disreputables  in  the  world.    The  work- 


320  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

ing  class  are  indeed  even  yet  of)enly  or  secretly  despised  so- 
cially by  their  "betters." 

It  was  thus  and  there  and  then  that,  long  ago,  in  war, 
originated  the  first  class-labor  form  of  society,  the  institu- 
tion called  slavery.*  A  class  of  despised  human  work  animals 
and  a  class  of  domineering  masters  thus  appeared;  and  these 
two  classes  developed,  this  method  of  production  developed, 
to  such  vast  proportions  that  this  CLAss-labor  system  became 

the  FUNDAMENTAL  THING  IN  THE  INDUSTRIAL   STRUCTURE  OF 

SOCIETY.  It  was  in  this  manner  that,  long  ago,  one  part  of 
society  climbed  upon  the  shoulders  of  the  other  part  of  so- 
ciety and  became  parasites,  social  parasites,  and  as  a  class 
sunk  their  parasitic  beaks  into  the  industrial  flesh  of  those 
who  had  become  a  working  class.  (Eeread  carefully  the 
three  quotations  at  the  head  of  Chapter  Ten.  They  are  spe- 
cially important.) 

Of  course  the  industrial  blood  of  'the  workers  tasted 
good  to  the  masters — that  is  to  say,  the  more  work  the  slaves 
did  the  less  work  the  masters  had  to  do, — and  that  was  lovely, 
for  the  masters,  for  the  ''leading  citizens."  The  "leading 
citizens"  knew  they  had  a  bright  idea — just  like  a  "leading 
citizen's"  idea  of  course.  The  new  idea  became  popular,  ex- 
tremely so — of  course.  The  "leading  citizens"  were  so  pleased 
— with  themselves  and  their  "brainy"  idea.  They  were 
"superior"  people — their  idea  proved  that,  of  course.  At  that 
point  in  human  history  a  ruling  class  began  to  flatter  them- 
selves and  talk  in  a  loud  and  handsome  manner  about  "the 
best  people,"  "the  right  to  rule  inferior  people/'  "the  pro- 
gressive, enterprising  part  of  society,"  and  so  forth.  The 
"leading  citizens"  knew  very  well  that  they  had  a  "good 
thing" — for  the  "leading  citizens,"  for  the  upper  class  who 
thus  became  so  very  pleasantly  located  as  an  upper  class — ^that 
is,  upon  the  industrial  shoulders  of  the  "lower  class,"  the 
working  class.  (Note  carefully  the  quotation  from  Dr.  Ward 
at  Head  of  Chapter  Ten.) 

*  It  is  true  that  even  before  this  time  woman  occupied  a  servile 
position  and  virtually  constituted  an  industrial  class.  See  August 
Bebel's  Woman — Past,  Present  and  Future. 


A  LESSON  IX  HISTORY.  321 

Very  naturally  the  ruling  class  at  once  busied  themselves 
promoting  and  protecting  their  new  class-work  plan,  their 
new  idea.  The  idea  was  their  idea  and  it  was  such  a  splendid 
idea.  Indeed  slavery  was  such  a  perfectly  delightful  idea — 
for  the  rulers — that,  being  "gentlemen  of  push  and  enter- 
prise," they  eagerly  studied  the  problem  of  developing  ways 
and  means  of  extendimg  their  new  advantage.  They  thought. 
They  planned — to  manage  the  new  human  mule. 
Their  first  idea  was — force. 

Kick  the  mule — and  rule. 

An  institution,  an  armed  guard,  was,  therefore,  promptly 
organized  for  holding  down  the  slaves,  the  "lower  class,"  by 
force, — to  hold  the  toilers,  as  it  were,  by  the  wrists.  But  an 
armed  guard  was  expensive,  and  it  was  expensive  simply  be- 
cause one  armed  guard  could  not  hold  many  slaves  to  their 
tasks — by  force.  Now,  the  ancient  slave-holding  ruling  class, 
like  the  modern  capitalist  ruling  class,  were,  of  course,  eager 
to  "reduce  expenses  and  increase  efficiency."  Thus  the  rulers 
had  another  idea,  a  big  bright  idea.    Mark  well  the  masters. 

Their  second  idea  was — fraud. 

Fool  the  mule — and  rule. 

The  brilliant  idea  of  using  fraud  in  ruling  slaves,  that 
is,  in  ruling  the  working  class,  was  simply  this:  to  have  an 
unarmed  guard  teach  the  human  horse  to  "stand  hitched," 
as  it  were,  or,  rather,  to  work  like  a  trained  horse  without 
requiring  an  armed  driver  to  whip  him,  to  force  him  to  his 
tasks.  This  unarmed  guard  was  to  hold  the  workers  to  their 
tasks  by  getting  a  grip  on  their  minds,  on  their  brains,  rather 
than  on  their  wrists. 

This  was  more  "refined." 

This  was  also  much  cheaper.  This  method  Ims  always 
been  cheaper.  It  is  cheaper  for  this  reason:  One  unarmed 
deceiver  acting  as  a  guard  by  holding  the  mind,  the  brain, 
of  the  workers,  can  hold  to  their  tasks  hundreds  of  times  as 
m-any  as  one  armed  guard  can  hold  by  force.  This  was  a 
most  happy  idea — for  the  ruling  class. 

A  new  era  opened. 

The  ruler  smiled  at  the  deceiver.     The  deceiver  smiled 


322  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

at  the  ruler.    They  understood — each  other,  and  agreed  upon 
"the  best  interests  of  society." 

Precisely  so.* 

Here  originated  the  vile  role  of  the  intellectual  prostitute, 
the  cheap  part  of  the  chloroformer  of  the  working  class,  the 
contemptible  business  of  the  professional  palaverer.  Here, 
right  at  this  point  in  human  history,  the  perfumed  intellec- 
tual prostitute  joined  the  blood-stained  soldier, — in  the  ruler's 
service  of  holding  down  the  robbed  and  ruined  working  class. 
The  palaverer  taught  the  toil-cursed  workers  to  be  obedient 
and  grateful  and  humble  and  meek  and  lowly  and  contented, 
to  "forget  it"  that  they  have  poverty  here  and  keep  in  mind 
that  "it  will  be  all  right  over  there" — "up  above"  (over  in 
behind  beyond  the  stars)  where  they  will  be  "richly  re- 
warded, in  the  sweet  bye  and  bye,  for  all  their  sufferings  in 
this  world" ;  taught  them  that  they  should  not  be  "resentful," 
Ijut  "in  patience  bear  all  sufferings," — bear  even  the  agony 
of  having  their  daughters  raped  by  rulers,  and  their  sons 
run  through  with  spears. 

Thus  the  toiler  was  kept  in  his  "proper  place"  (at  work) 
by  the  soldier  and  the  palaverer,  compelling  and  cajoling  the 
domesticated  human  work  animal. 

They  held  him  fast. 

One  seized  his  wrists,  the  other  seized  his  reason ;  one  used 
force,  the  other  used  fraud;  one  used  a  lash,  the  other  used 
a  lure;  one  used  a  club,  the  other  used  chloroform;  one 
frowned  threateningly,  the  other  smiled  seductively.  With 
curses  and  cunning  these  two  have  taught  the  toiler  law 

AND  ORDER — THE  LAW  AND  THE  ORDER  MADE  BY  THE  MASTERS 
FOR  THE   MASTERS. 

Both  guards  were  "necessary" — in  the  business  of  robbing 
the  working  class.     Both  have  served  the  ruling  class  long 


*  Professor  E.  A.  Ross  ( Department  of  Sociology,  University  of 
Wisconsin)   gently  hints  thus   {Social  Control,  p.  86)  : 

"Under  the  ascendency  of  the  rich  and  leisured,  property  be- 
comes more  sacred  than  persons,  moral  standards  vary  with  the 
pecuniary  status,  and  it  is  felt  that  'God  will  think  twice  before  He 
damns  a  person  of  qvxality.' " 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  323 

and  well.  Through  the  long  sad  centuries  these  throe,  the 
ruler  and  his  two  "standbys,"  the  soldier  and  the  palaverer, 
have  ridden  the  human  beast  of  burden,  the  working  class. 
The  mailed  fist  of  the  hired  assassin  and  the  soft  voice  of 
the  bribed  palaverer  have  held  the  worker  utterly  helpless 
while  the  ruler  robbed  him. 

Both  guards  have  been  rewarded — with  provender  and 
flattery,  with  pelf  and  popularity.  The  whipper  and  the 
wheedler  of  the  toiler,  the  slayer  and  the  seducer  of  the 
working  class,  have  been  the  specially  petted  patriots  whose 
ignoble  role  has  been  to  help  defend  the  class-labor  system. 

The  workers  have  been  kicked  and  tricked  for  ten  thou- 
sand years,  but  chiefly  tricked,  betrayed  into  helpless  consent 
and  stupid  approval.     The  more  fraud  the  less  force. 

Undoubtedly  far  more  important  than  the  physical  con- 
quest over  the  working  class  was  the  conquest  over  the  mind 
of  the  working  class.  Undoubtedly  the  idea  of  teaching  the 
slave  to  be  a  slave  and  to  be  satisfied  with  slavery  and  thus 
make  the  slave,  the  serf,  the  wage-earner,  an  automatic 
human  ox  to  bear  and  draw  the  burdens  of  the  world  in 
brainless  obedience  and  dull  humility — undoubtedly  that  idea 
has  done  more  solid  service  in  the  successes  of  injustice  than 
any  other  idea  ever  born  in  the  brain  of  tyrants. 

The  ruling  class  have  always  carefully  secured  the  services 
of  many  of  the  world's  ablest  men  to  play  Judas  to  the 
carpenters — to  the  working  class.  Profound  men,  gifted  men, 
trained  men,  eloquent  men,  enjoying  the  world's  choicest 
food,  blissfully  happy  with  the  world's  finest  wine,  living  in 
homes  of  comfort  and  splendor,  dressed  in  softest  raiment, 
ijiany  of  these  have  traduced  the  slave,  the  serf  and  the  wage- 
earner  without  shame.  Tho  the  splendid  Christ  said:  "The 
truth  shall  make  you  free,"  these  Judases  have  taught  the 
working  class  that  learning  is  a  useless  or  an  evil  thing  for 
the  working  people ;  *  that  the  toilers'  poverty  is  the  will  of 

*  Even  great  literatures,  regarded  as  divinely  inspired  and 
boasted  to  be  The  Truth,  have  been  kept  from  the  free  access  of  the 
people — the  "plain  people,"  too  plain  to  understand  the  literature 
said  to  have  life  in  it.  Such  literature  has  been  hidden  from  the 
people  for  many  hundreds  of  years — or  "rightly  divided"  and  diluted. 


324  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

God,  that  nnrewarcled  toil  in  this  world  would  reap  a  ''spe- 
cially rich  reward  beyond  the  grave."  These  paid  and  power- 
ful human  things,  palavering  about  the  "dignity  of  honest 
toil,"  palavering  about  the  "joy  of  the  hope  of  good  things 
beyond"  (always  beyond) — these  themselves  have  been  prac- 
tical and  careful  to  take  cash-down-good-things  for  their 
collect-on-delivery  services,  careful  to  take  a  rich  and  prompt 
reward  here  and  now  in  this  world,  while  at  the  very  same 
time  they  were  advising  and  urging  the  slave,  the  serf,  and 
the  wage-earner  to  accept  unsigned  cheques  payable  in  heaven. 

Always  this  for  the  worker :  "Your  turn  will  come  next" 
— that  is,  in  the  next  world. 

Following  this  vanishing  lure,  hundreds  of  millions  of 
toilers  have,  as  it  were,  walked  barefoot  on  broken  glass 
and  lain  down  in  their  beds  of  misery  menially  paralyzed  on 
the  subject  of  justice.  Hundreds  of  millions  of  toilers  have 
not  only  accepted  these  teachings;  but,  saddest  of  all,  have 
been  tricked  into  teaching  these  same  things  to  their  children. 

Thus  it  was  that  almost  the  entire  working  class  were 
tamed  and  trained  for  many  centuries  into  spineless  meek- 
ness, into  the  docility  of  humility — helpless — policed  by 
prejudice  and  fear  founded  on  shrewdly  perpetuated  igno- 
rance. 

"Slaves,  obey  your  masters,"  has  been  taught  in  a  thou- 
sand ways  for  ten  thousand  years  by  the  stufEed  prophets  for 
the  profit-stuffed  rulers  of  the  robbed  and  ruined  workers  of 
the  world. 

This  perhaps  will  make  it  somewhat  easier  to  understand 
the  present  intellectual  condition  of  the  working  class.  It 
thus  becomes  easier  to  understand  why  the  workers  were 
taught  (and  are  taught  now)  to  be  "satisfied  with  their  lot," 
taught  the  "identity  and  harmony  of  interests  of  capital  and 
labor."  This  explains  the  meekness  of  the  multitude,  the 
docility  of  the  majority,  and  their  political  modesty. 

Sheepish  meekness,  self-contempt  and  prideless  obedience 
long  ago  took  the  place  of  defiant  and  splendid  rebellious 
self-respect — in  the  character  and  th"  thinhing  of  the  work- 
ing class. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  325 

In  every  possible  way  the  shackles  have  been  riveted  to 
the  wrists  and  brains  of  the  working  class — what  for? — in 
order  to  perpetuate  the  class-labor  system.  Under  slavery, 
under  serfdom  and  under  capitalism,  laws,  constitutions,  cus- 
toms, religious  teachings,  secular  teachings,  and  all  the  social 
institutions   have  been   shrewdly   conformed   or  adjusted   to 

THE  PREVAILING  METHOD  OF  PRODUCTION  for  the  PROTECTION 

of  that  method  of  production  m  order  thv^  to  support  the 
CLASS  who,  m  the  struggle  for  existence,  have  had  grossly 

UNFAIR    advantage    BY    MEANS    OF    THAT    METHOD    OF    PRO- 
DUCTION.* 

Ferocious  wrongs  were  studiously  developed  into  vast  in- 
stitutions. For  example,  man-stealing  and  slave-breeding 
became  the  chief  business  of  the  mightiest  of  the  ancient 
pagan  societies,  the  Roman  Empire,  and  was  also  a  flourish- 
ing enterprise  under  the  most  highly  developed  modern 
Christian  societies,  the  British  Empire  and  the  American 
Eepublic.  Christian  Queen  Anne,  of  England,  unrebuked 
by  her  "spiritual  adviser,"  was  a  pious  stockholder  in  a  slave- 
hunting  corporation  composed  of  prominent  and  pious  Chris- 
tian ladies  and  gentlemen.f  The  Christian  churches,  col- 
leges, newspapers,  of  the  United  States  not  long  ago,  North 
and  South,  were  almost  unanimous  in  their  eloquent  and 
pious  defense   of  human  slavery.^     The  business  was  emi- 


*  The  inauguration  of  human  slavery  was  a  profound  change  in 
human  relations — the  greatest  possible  "change  in  circumstances" — 
down  at  the  very  foundations  of  society.  Vast  fundamental  changes 
resulted — inevitably — in  changed,  and  even  neio,  institutions. 

"Institutions  must  change  with  changing  circumstances,  since 
they  are  of  the  nature  of  an  habitual  method  of  responding  to 
stimuli  which  these  changing  circumstances  afford.  .  .  .  The  insti- 
tutions are,  in  substance,  prevalent  habits  of  thought  with  respect 
to  particular  relations  and  particular  functions  of  the  individual 
and  of  the  community.  .  .  ." — ^Thorstein  Veblen:  The  Theory  of  the 
Leisure  Class,  p.  190.  See  quotation  from  Dr.  Small  at  the  head  of 
Chapter  Ten.     Also  consult  Ross's  Social  Control. 

fSee  Thomas's  History  of  the  Umted  States,  p.  68. 

t  See  Hyndman :  The  Economics  of  Socialism,  Lecture  1,  Methods 
of  Production. 


326  WAR— WHAT  FORf 

nently  respectable,  the  business  of  legally  (and  piously)  suck- 
ing the  industrial  blood  out  of  one's  fellowmen — ^living  like 
a  parasite, — the  business  of  producing  nothing  and  living 
upon  the  results  of  the  worker's  labor-power. 
Thus  keep  in  mind :  * 

(1)  The  origin  of  the  working  class, 

(2)  The  origin  of  the  first  class-labor  system, 

(3)  The  origin  of  the  class  struggle, 

(4)  The  origin  of  the  social  degradation,  the  socially 
"down-and-out"  condition,  the  loss  of  social  standing — of  the 
working  class  people, 

(5)  The  origin  and  growth  of  the  humility  of  the  work- 
ing class,  of  the  sheepish  meekness  of  the  working  class,  the 
meekness  which  to-day  shows  itself  in  the  politics  of  most 
working  men — always  suspecting  and  despising  their  own 
working-class  political  party,  always  in  our  day  tagging  along 
after  some  smooth,  well-dressed  crook  candidates  on  capital- 
ist class  party  tickets. 

(6)  The  perpetuation  of  ignorance — in  the  working  class. 

(7)  The  origin  of  the  intellectual  prostitute,  the  moral 
emasculate. 

Now,  help  your  satisfied  fellow  worker,  help  Mm  under- 
stand why  he  is  satisfied. 

Without  malice,  without  anti-culture  prejudice,  without 
anti-religious  hatred,  without  anti-church  spite,  but  with 
knowledge  of  the  naturalness  of  human  behavior  domineered 
hy  economic  necessity,  with  knowledge  of  the  great  historical 
process,  with  your  vision  clear,  your  heart  kind,  your  courage 
high,  and  your  purpose  fraternal — explain,  explain  this  mat- 
ter of  meekness  to  your  humble,  contented  wage-slave  neigh- 
bor. Explain:  That  long  ago  the  working  man  was  forced 
and  taught  to  be  docile  and  meek.  Under  slavery,  later  under 
serfdom  and  still  later  under  capitalism — for  thousands  of 
years — ^he  industrially,  socially,  and  politically  surrendered. 
He  was  compelled  to  do  so.    He  was  taught  to  do  so. 


*  And  get  these  things  into  the  minds  of  the  children.  If  the 
teacher  at  your  nearest  school  does  not  know  these  things,  have  the 
children  teach  the  teacher. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  327 

He  got  the  habit. 

He  had  the  manhood  and  the  courage  beaten  out  of  him, 
kicked  out  of  him — and  coaxed  out  of  him. 

He  lost  heart. 

He  humbly  took  his  place — as  a  chattel-slave  class,  as  a 
serf-slave  class,  as  a  wage-slave  class. 

He  has  produced  wealth. 

He  has  reproduced  slaves. 

The  wings  of  his  aspiration  have  been  clipped.  He  can 
hope  no  higher  than  a  job — for  himself.  He  hopes  no  higher 
than  a  job — for  his  children. 

The  top  of  the  plans  of  his  life  is — toil. 

And  therefore  even  now  as  a  wage-slave  he  teaches  his 
own  children  to  "respect  their  betters" — their  employer 
masters. 

He  forgets. 

He  is  so  cringingly  grateful  for  a  job  that  he  forgets  he 
should  have  not  only  the  right  to  breathe  the  air,  the  right 
to  look  at  the  sun,  the  right  to  read  in  the  library,  the  right 
to  walk  on  the  highway,  and  the  right  to  sit  in  the  park, — 
but  also  the  right  to  worh,  the  right  to  work  unrohhed,  the 
right  to  work  under  dignifying  conditions,  and  thus  main- 
tain himself  on  this  earth  at  the  upmost  levels  of  life,  en- 
joying the  full  result  of  his  applied  labor  power, — and  with- 
out whining  for  permission  to  do  so. 

He  forgets. 

He  is  still  so  very  humble. 

He  is,  under  the  wage-system,  forced  to  obey  orders  all 
his  life  in  the  factory,  the  shop  and  the  mine.  He  is  thus 
habitually  so  obedient  that  he  will  obey  any  order.  He  prides 
himself  on  his  obedience.  Under  orders  he  will  even  plunge 
a  bayonet  into  the  breast  of  his  fellow  workers — in  the  in- 
terest of  the  capitalist  class.  He  forgets  the  thousand  wrongs 
thrust  into  his  weary  life  and  into  the  life  of  his  class. 

He  does  indeed  forget. 

He  is  still  in  a  dull,  dumb  slumber. 

But  he  is  beginning  to  rouse  from  the  slumber  of  meek- 
ness— from  the  social  damnation  of  brainless  obedience. 


% 


328  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

He  is  heginmng  io  study  the  history  of  his  own  worJcing 
class;  and  therefore  he  is  rousing,  waking,  rising. 

Following  are  some  additional  short  paragraphs  on  the 
history   of  the   working  class   from   books   by   distinguished  | 

writers  and  teachers.  It  is  hoped  that  these  quoted  para- 
graphs will  induce  further  working  class  study  of  working 
class  history.  These  passages  confirm  the  main  points  of 
this  lesson.     (See  Chapter  Twelve,  Suggestion  4.) 

Professor  Lester  F.  Ward  (Brown  University)  :* 

"Still,  the  world  has  never  reached  a  stage  where  the  physical 
and  temporal  interests  have  not  been  largely  in  the  ascendant,  and 
it  is  these  upon  which  the  economists  have  established  their  science. 
Self-preservation  has  alioays  been  the  first  law  of  nature  and  that 
which  best  insures  this  is  the  greatest  gain.  ,  .  .  All  considerations 
of  pride  or  self-respect  tvill  give  tcay  to  the  imperious  laio  of  the 
greatest  gain  for  the  least  effort.  All  notions  of  justice  which 
would  prompt  the  giving  of  an  equivalent  vanish  before  it.  .  .  ." 

Thus  wrote  Sir  Henry  Maine  rf 

"The  simple  wish  to  use  the  bodily  powers  of  another  person, 
as  a  means  of  ministering  to  one's  own  ease  or  pleasure,  is  doubtless 
the  foundation  of  slavery." 

And  thus  Professor  W.  G.  Sumner  (Yale  University)  4 
"The  desire  to  get  ease  or  other  good  by  the  labor  of  another 
and  the  incidental  gratification  to  vanity  seem  to  be  the  funda- 
mental principles  of  slavery,  when  philosophically  regarded,  after 
the  rule  of  one  man  over  others  has  become  established.  ...  It 
appears  that  slavery  began  historically  with  the  war  captive,  if  he 
or  she  was  not  put  to  death,  as  he  was  liable  to  be  by  the  laws 
of  war.  ...  It  seems  to  be  established  that  it  [slavery]  began  where 
the  economic  system  was  such  that  there  was  gain  in  making  a 
slave  of  a  war  captive,  instead  of  killing  him.  .  .  .  The  defeated 
[in  war]  were  forced  to  it  [slavery]  and  learned  to  submit  to  it. 
...  It  seemed  to  be  good  fun,  as  well  as  wise  policy,  to  make  the 
members  of  a  rival  out-group  do  these  tasks,  after  defeating  them 
in  war.  .  .  .  Inasmuch  as  slavery  springs  from  greed  and  vanity, 
it  appeals  to  primary  motives  and  is  at  once  entwined  with  selfish- 
ness and  other  fundamental  vices.  .  .  .  It  rises  to  an  interest  which 
overrules  everything  else.  .  .  .  The  motive  of  slavery  is  base   and 


*  Pure  Sociology,  p.  61.     Italics  mine.     G.  R.  K. 

■^Ancient  Law,  p.   164. 

t  Folkways,  pp.  262-3  and  307.    Italics  mine.   G.  R.  K. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  329 

cruel  from  the  beginning.  .  .  .  The  interests  normally  control  life. 
.  .  .  Slavery  is  an  instinct  which  is  sure  to  break  over  all  re- 
straints and  correctives.  ...  It  is  a  kind  of  pitfall  for  civilization." 

Here  are  a  few  lines  from  Professors  Ely  and  Wicker 
(University  of  Wisconsin,  Department  of  Economics)  :* 

"It  follows  from  the  need  of  larger  territories  [in  the  hunting 
stage]  that  war  becomes  an  economic  necessity  wherever  there  is 
not  an  abundance  of  unoccupied  land.  This  same  condition  of 
things  gives  us  one  of  the  causes  of  cannibalism.  The  pressure  of 
increasing  numbers  bringing  people  continually  to  the  verge  of 
starvation,  they  fall,  little  by  little,  into  the  custom  of  eating 
enemies,  taken  in  war.  .  .  .  Captives  later  came  to  be  recognized 
as  of  use  in  serving  their  captors,  and  thus  slavery  succeeds  canni- 
balism. .  .  . 

"The  Origin  of  a  Working  Class.  Perhaps  the  most  important 
result  of  the  change  which  produced  the  agricultural  stage  was  the 
growth  of  slavery  as  an  institution.  As  we  liave  said,  slavery 
had  its  beginnings  in  the  preceding  periods  [hunting  and  pastoral], 
but  it  is  only  in  the  agricultural  stage  that  it  becomes  an  important, 
almost  a  fundamental,  economic  institution.  Tending  the  herds  did 
not  call  for  persistent  labor,  but  the  prose  of  tilling  the  soil  is 
undisguised  work,  and  primitive  men  were  not  fond  of  work.  .  .  • 
It  is  not  strange  then  that  they  should  have  saved  the  lives  of 
men  conquered  in  battle  with  the  design  of  putting  upon  them 
the   tasks   of  tilling   the   soil." 

On  the  origin  of  slavery  the  eminent  French  sociologist, 
Gabriel  Tarde,  writes  :f 

"What  do  all  our  modern  inventions  amount  to  in  comparison 
with  this  capital  invention  of  domestication.  This  was  the  first 
decisive  victory  over  animality.  Now,  of  all  historic  events  the 
greatest  and  most  surprising  is,  unquestionably,  the  one  which 
alone  made  history  possible,  the  triumph  of  man  over  surrounding 
fauna  [animals  of  the  region].  ...  To  us  the  trained  horse  that  is 
docile  under  the  bit  is  merely  a  certain  muscular  force  under  our 
control.  .  .  .  The  idea  of  reducing  men  to  slavery,  instead  of  killing 
and  eating  them,  must  have  arisen  after  the  idea  of  training  animals 
instead  of  feeding  on  them,  for  the  same  reason  that  war  against 
wild  beasts  must  have  preceded  that  against  alien  tribes.  When 
man  enslaved  and  domesticated  his  own  kind,  he  substituted  the 
idea  of  human  beasts  of  burden  for  that  of  human  prey." 


*  Elementary  Economics,  pp.  27-33. 

■f  Laws  of  Imitation,  Parson's  translation,  pp.  277-79. 


330  WAB—WHAT  FOR? 

And  this  from  Wallis:* 

"But  whatever  its  merits,  the  consideration  of  slavery  intro- 
.  duces  a  much  larger  subject — the  place  of  class  relations  in  social 
development  as  a  whole.  In  its  material  aspect,  property  in  men  is 
an  institution  by  means  of  which  one  class  of  people  appropriates 
the  labor  product  of  another  class  without  economic  repayment. 
This  relation  is  brought  about  lalso'\  by  other  institutions  than 
slavery.  For  instance,  if  a  class  engross  the  land  of  a  country  and 
force  'the  remainder  of  the  population  to  pay  rent,  either  in  kind 
or  in  money,  for  the  use  of  the  soil,  such  a  procedure  issues,  like 
slavery,  in  the  absorption  of  labor  products  by  an  upper  class  with- 
out economic  repayment. 

"We  have  observed  the  origin  of  the  social  cleavage  into  upper 
and  lower  strata  on  this  general  basis  at  the  inception  of  social 
development.  If  we  scrutinize  the  field  carefully,  it  is  evident  that 
one  of  the  greatest  and  far  reaching  facts  of  ancient  civilization, 
as  it  emerges  from  the  darkness  of  prehistoric  times,  as  well  as 
one  of  the  most  considerable  facts  of  subsequent  history  is  just  this 
cleavage  into  two  principal  classes." 

Herbert  Spencer  has  written  :t 

"The  sequence  of  slavery  upon  war  in  ancient  times  is  shown 
us  in  the  chronicle  of  all  races.  .  .  . 

"Eeady  obedience  to  a  terrestrial  ruler  is  naturally  accompanied 
by  ready  obedience  to  a  supposed  celestial  ruler;  .  .  .  Examina- 
tion discloses  a  relation  between  ecclesiastical  and  political  govern- 
ments .  .  .  and  in  societies  which  have  developed  a  highly  coercive  i^; 
secular  rule  there  habitually  exists  a  high  coercive  religious  '' 
rule.  ... 

"The  Clergy  were  not  the  men  who  urged  the  abolition  of  slav-  > 

ery,  nor  the  men  who  condemned  regulations  which  raised  the  price  | 

of  bread  to  maintain  rents.     Ministers  of  religion  do  not  as  a  body  K 

denounce  the  unjust  aggression  we  continually  commit  on  weaker 
societies."  ,' 

Dr.  Ward  writes  :$ 

"Passing  over  rcbbeiy  and  theft,  which,  though  prevalent  every- 
where, are  not  recognized  by  society,  let  us  consider  war  for  a 
moment  as  a  non-industrial  mode  of  acquisition.     In  modern  times, 

*  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  May,  1902,  pp.  764-65.  Italics 
mine.    G.  R.  K. 

■f  Principles  of  Sociology,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  84,  92,  148,  448;  Apple- 
ton's  Edition,  1899.  See  also  Lester  F.  Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology, 
Vol.  I.,  pp.  287-90.     (Italics  mine.    G.  R.  K.) 

t  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  583-85. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  331 

most  wars  have  some  pretext  besides  that  of  aggrandizing  the 
victorious  parties  engaged  in  them,  although  in  nearly  all  cases 
this  latter  is  the  real  casus  belli  [justihcation  of  war].  This 
shows  that  the  world  is  so  far  advanced  as  to  be  ashamed  of  its 
motives  for  its  conduct,  but  not  enough  so  to  aifect  that  conduct 
materially.  In  olden  times  no  secret  was  made  of  the  object  of 
military  expeditions  as  the  acquisition  of  the  wealth  of  the  con- 
quered people.  .  .  .  We  may  regard  war,  then,  strictly  considered,  as 
a  mode  of  acquisition.  .  .  .  War,  then,  when  waged  for  conquest,  is 
simply  robbery  on  so  large  a  scale  that  in  the  crude  conceptions  of 
men  it  arouses  the  sentiments  of  honor." 

In  Dealy  and  Ward's  Text  Book  of  Sociology,  pp.  86-88, 
is  this  luminous  passage: 

"The  stage  of  race  antagonism  is  reached  and  the  era  of  war 
begins.  The  chase  for  animal  food  is  converted  into  a  chase  for 
human  flesh,  and  anthropophagous  [cannibal]  races  arise,  spread- 
ing terror  in  all  directions.  .  .  .  The  use  of  the  bodies  of  the  weaker 
races  for  food  was,  of  course,  the  simplest  form  of  exploitation 
to  suggest  itself.  But  this  stage  was  succeeded  by  that  social  assim- 
ilation through  conquest  and  subjugation.  The  profound  inequal- 
ity produced  by  subjugation  was  turned  to  account  through  other 
forms  of  exploitation.  The  women  and  the  warriors  were  enslaved, 
and  the  system  of  caste  that  arose  converted  the  conquered  race 
into  a  virtually  servile  class,  while  this  service  and  the  exemptions 
it  entailed  converted  the  leaders  of  the  conquering  race  into  a 
leisure  class. 

"Such  was  the  origin  of  slavery,  an  economic  institution  which 
is  found  in  the  earlier  stages  of  all  the  historical  races." 

The  next  selected  paragraph  is  from  Professor  Simon 
Patten  (University  of  Pennsylvania),  Ex-President  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science  :* 

"The  human  hordes  turned  upon  each  other,  and  their  prowlings 
about  the  precarious  supplies  of  food  evolved  in  the  course  of  time 
the  'wars  of  civilization.'  There  was  little  peace  where  nature  was 
most  productive,  and  the  conquering  populations  of  the  better 
lands,  governing  and  protecting  by  conquest,  built  up  whole  states 
on  the  traditions  and  practice  of  fighting.  .  .  .  Statesmen  mid 
philosophers  set  forth  the  necessity  and  beneficence  of  destruction. 
It  was  in  such  a  world,  ivhere  a  man's  death  was  his  neighbor's 
gain,    that   OUR   social  institutions  were  grounded.   .   .   .   Predatory 


*  The   New   Basis   of   Civilization,   pp.    67,    69.      Italics    mine. 

G.    R.    El. 


333  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

habits,  which  originated  in  the  hunting  of  game,  developed  a  zest  for 
hunting  men  as  soon  as  conquests  and  the  possession  of  slaves  made 
the  agricultural  resources  of  the  valleys  more  desirable  than  those 
of  the  mountain  or  upland  plain.  .  .  .  The  contests  evolved  social 
institutions,  which  do  perpetuate  and  conserve,  and  which  do  not 
improve,  man's  adjustment  to  nature.  Here  arises  the  distinction 
between  the  social  institutions  .  .  .  and  the  economic  institutions. 
.  .  .  The  former  establish  status  and  the  rights  of  possession  and 
exploitation;  the  other  increase  nobility  of  men  and  goods,  promote 
industry,  and  give  each  generation  renewed  power  to  establish 
itself  in  closer  relations  with  nature. 

"The  result  of  these  conditions  is  two  kinds  of  obstacles  that 
hinder  advance.  On  the  one  hand  are  the  obstacles  economic,  mal- 
adjustments between  man  and  nature,  which  forced  men  in  the  past 
to  submit  to  a  poverty  they  did  not  know  how  to  escape;  and  on 
the  other  hand  are  the  obstacles  social  which  do  not  originate  in 
nature,  but  in  those  past  [social']  conditions  retaining  present  po- 
tency that  have  aligned  men  into  antagonistic  classes  at  home  and 
into  hostile  races  abroad.     The  economic  obstacles  are  being  slowly  | 

weakened  by  the  application  of  knowledge,  science  and  skill;  but  the  f 

social  obstacles  will  never  be  overcome  until  an  intellectual  revolu- 
tion shall  have  freed  men's  minds  from  the  stultifying  social  tradi- 
tions that  hand  down  hatreds,  and  shall  have  given  to  thought  the 
freedom  that  now  makes  industrial  activity.  The  extension  of 
civilization  doivnicard  does  not  depend  at  present  so  much  upon 
gaining  fresh  victories  over  nature,  as  it  does  upon  the  demolish- 
ment  of  social  obstacles  which  divide  men  into  classes  and  prevent 
the  universal  democracy  that  unimpeded  economic  forces  would  bring 
about.  The  social  status,  properly  determined  by  a  man's  working 
capacity,  has  now  intervened  between  him  and  his  relations  with 
nature  until  opportunity,  which  should  be  impersonal  and  self-re- 
newed at  the  birth  of  a  man,  has  dwindled  and  become  partisan."* 

Thus  Professor  Patten,  tho  a  conservative  and  a  non- 
socialist,  frankly  points  out  the  necessity  of  such  social  re- 
organization as  will  destroy  the  artificial  barriers  to  equality 
of  opportunity  for  each  to  secure  an  abundance.  And  it  is 
certainly  true,  as  Dr.  Patten  suggests,  that  we  have  arrived 
at  that  stage  in  our  knowledge  of  nature  and  in  our  indus- 
trial evolution,  which  renders  industrial  reconstruction  of 
society  logically  necessary — both  to  avoid  war  and  to  secure 
industrial  justice  and  freedom  for  the  working  class. 


See  discussion  of  parasites  in  Chapter  Ten. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  333 

Anent  this  matter  one  of  America's  noblest  and  most 
scholarly  women,  Miss  Jane  Addams,  writes  as  follows  :* 

"Existing  commerce  has  long  ago  reached  its  international 
stage,  but  it  has  been  the  result  of  business  aggression,  and  con- 
stantly appeals  for  military  defense  and  for  the  foi-cing  of  new 
markets.  ...  It  has  logically  lent  itself  to  warfare,  and  is  indeed 
the  modern  representative  of  conquest.  As  its  prototype  rested 
upon  slavery  and  vassalage,  so  this  commerce  is  founded  upon  a 
contempt  for  the  worker,  and  believes  that  he  can  live  on  low  wages. 
It  assumes  that  his  legitimate  wants  are  the  animal  ones,  com- 
prising merely  food  and  shelter  and  the  cost  of  its  replacement." 

Frederic  Harrison  thus  if 

"Within  our  social  system  there  rages  the  struggle  of  classes, 
interests,  and  ambitions;  the  passion  for  wealth,  the  restlessness 
of  want.  The  future  of  industry,  the  cause  of  education,  social 
justice,  the  very  life  of  the  poor,  all  tremble  in  the  balance  in  our 
own  country,  as  in  other  countries;  this  way  or  that  way  will 
decide  the  well-being  of  generations  to  come." 

The  wars  of  long  ago  originated  because  it  was  extremely 
difficult  to  get  a  living  out  of  nature's  store-house  of  sup- 
plies— when  men  were  ignorant  of  nature's  resources  and 
ignorant  of  how  to  make  nature  yield  abundantly.  Those 
wars  were  due  chiefly  to  ignorance  of  physical  nature,  due 
to  our  inability  to  get  into  right  relations  with  physical 
NATURE.  But  the  wars  of  the  present  are  carried  on,  and 
the  wars  of  the  future  will  be  carried  on,  chiefly  because  of 
the  following  combination  of  circumstances: 

(a)  We  have  so  much  knowledge  of  nature's  forces  and 
resources  that  it  is  easy,  now,  to  get  livings  from  nature's 
store-house,  easy  to  produce  abundantly;  and 

(b)  Under  the  wage-system  the  worker's  power  to  pro- 
duce abundantly  is  so  much  greater  than  his  permitted  con- 
suming power  that  the  surplus  product  becomes  so  large  as 
to  make  a  foreign  market,  a  world-market,  necessary;  and, 

(c)  Since  many  nations  have  reached  and  more  nations 
are  rapidly  approaching  this  stage  of  development  in  pro- 
duction, yet  still  remain  under  the  wage-and-profit  plan  of 


*  Neicer  Ideals  of  Peace,  pp.  115-16. 
•f  National  and  Social  Problems,  p.  255, 


334  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

distribution,  the  world  market  is  insufficient  for  all 

OF  THEM. 

Hence  there  will  be  wars,  if  the  working  class  permit  them. 

The  future  wars  will  be  due  chiefly  to  ignorance  of  social 
nature,  due  to  our  hiahility  to  get  into  right  relations  with 
ONE  ANOTHER  industrially. 

War  produced  slavery,  chattel  slavery.  Chattel  slavery 
evolved  into  serf-slavery.  Serf-slavery  evolved  into  wage-slav- 
ery. And  wage-slaves  produce  so  much  and  are  permitted  to 
consume  so  small  a  proportion  of  what  they  produce,  that 
the  capitalists  must  order  the  wage-slaves  to  fight  for  a 
foreign  market  for  what  the  wage-slaves  produce  and  the 
capitalist  employers  do  not  consume  or  invest  and  the  wage- 
slaves  are  not  permitted  to  consume.  War  thus  originated 
slavery  and  now  slavery  [wage-slavery]  ends  in  war. 

War,  conflict,  struggle,  Antagonism  is  in  the  social  struc- 
ture wherever  there  is  slavery. 

Slavery  is  fundamentally  unsocial — anti-social. 

ISTow,  the  capitalist  employer  insists  that  the  wage-earner 
and  the  employer  are  in  proper  relation  to  each  other.  The 
capitalist  is  satisfied  to  have  had  the  first  two  class-labor 
forms  of  society  (slavery  and  serfdom)  pass  away.  But  he 
accepts  the  present  class-labor  form  of  society  (the  wage- 
system)  as  correct;  it  is  satisfactory — to  him.  And  he  crafti- 
ly has  it  taught  in  the  high  schools,  colleges  and  universities 
that  the  employer  and  the  wage-earner  are  at  present  in  propsr 
relation  to  each  other. 

The  capitalist  enjoys  his  own  freedom  at  the  expense  of 
the  worher's  freedom. 

He  is  eager  to  have  the  wage-earner  believe  that  he  too  is 
free ;  and  that,  being  free,  he  should  be  satisfied  and  keep  quiet. 

The  capitalists  explain  that  the  wage-earners  are  free 
because  the  wage-earners  have  the  privilege  of  making  a  con- 
tract, a  contract  to  worh  for  wages;  that  the  wage-earners 
being  thus  at  last  free  to  make  a  contract,  they  have  reached 
their  final  status,  an  ideal  status;  and  that  thus  (Blessed  be 
the  Lord!)  evolution  has  flnally  finished  its  great  work — ^the 
work  is  done  and  well  done. 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  335 

Capitalists  and  the  intellectual  flunbies  of  the  capitalist 
class  do  all  possible  to  have  the  world  believe  the  following 
proposition: 

The  evolution  of  human  relations  is  finished — 

PERFECT — IN  industry;  AND,  THEREFORE,  THE  WAGE- 
EARNERS  ARE  FOOLISH  AND  UNGRATEFUL  TO  BE  DISCONTENTED, 
AFTER  HAVING  DEVELOPED  TO  THEIR  PRESENT  STAGE  OF  IN- 
DUSTRIAL   FREEDOM. 

Following  is  a  sample  of  the  familiar  soothing  congratu- 
lation on  our  having  reached  the  present  noble  form  of  in- 
dustrial freedom  and  civilization.  Professor  Fairbanks  (Yale 
University)  writes  thus:* 

"When  captives  taken  in  war  could  be  utilized  for  work  in- 
stead of  being  destroyed  or  eaten,  a  genuine  means  of  production 
was  secured.  .  .  .  Feudalism  marked  a  decided  advance  on  slavery. 
.  .  .  The  serf  had  certain  interests  of  his  own,  not  wholly  identical 
with  his  lord's.  .  .  .  Then  masters  gradually  learned  that  hired 
labor  [the  wage-system]  was  more  profitable  than  forced  labor, 
and  the  principle  of  serfdom,  like  that  of  slavery  before  it,  had  to  give 
way  to  a  higher  form  of  organization  for  production  [the  wage- 
system].   .   .  . 

"The  laborer  [at  present  under  the  wage-system]  is  bound  to 
his  master  by  no  tie  except  such  as  he  voluntarily  assumes." 

How  frankly  profits  are  admitted  to  have  been  the  motive 
inspiring  the  origin  of  the  wage-system. 

And  how  entertainingly  ridiculous  is  the  last  proposition 
quoted  above.  What  cheap  palavering  about  freedom.  What 
clownish  antics  pleasing  to  the  kings — the  industrial  kings. 
It  certainly  pleases  the  industrial  Caesars  to  have  the  Pro- 
fessor turn  intellectual  sommersaults  to  induce  the  wage-slave 
to  smile  sweetly  and  admire  the  slave-bands  on  his  own 
wrists.    Are  not  those  bands  plainly  marked  "Free"? 

Notice  that  Professor  Fairbanks  uses  the  words  "master" 
and  "bound"  in  referring  to  the  relation  between  the  employer 
and  the  "free-contracting"  wage-earner. 

A  free  man  does  not  voluntarily  bind  himself  to  a  master. 

With  the  lash  of  hunger  cutting  him  and  the  wolf  of 
want  at  the  throats  of  his  wife  and  children,  the  "free-con- 


Introduction  to  Sociology,   pp.    136-39, 


336  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

tractmg"  hired  laborer,  the  wage-earner,  promptly  and  vol- 
untarily seeks  an  employer— "master,"  and  "voluntarily" 
"contracts"  to  produce  a  dollar's  worth  of  value  for  twenty  or 
forty  cents  in  wages  and  thus  "voluntarily"  degrades  himself 
and  thus  "voluntarily"  submits  to  have  his  wife  and  little 
children  robbed  of  the  abundant  livings  he  wishes  to  pro- 
vide for  them.  This  is  the  freedom,  the  free  contract,  of  the 
wage-system,  the  present  (the  third)  form  of  class-lahov 
system.  This  glorious  freedom  of  the  modern  wage-slave  is 
easily  seen  in  the  picture  opposite  the  title-page  of  this  look. 
The  "freedom"  of  the  wage-earner  in  thus  making  a  con- 
tract,  with  starvation  behind  him,  vagrancy  laws  reaching 
for  him,  police,  militia,  soldiers,  jails  and  bull-pens  ready 
for  him,  this  freedom  is  about  as  complete  as  that  of  a  citizen 
facing  an  armed  and  threatening  highwayman  who  com- 
mands, "Hands  up!"  The  wage  earner  and  the  held-up 
citizen  are  free  to  comply,  free  to  surrender  and  free  to  be  | 

robbed,  and  also  free  to  decline  and  take  the  consequences —    . 
all  "voluntarily"  of  course. 

No  ONE  IS  FREE  INDEED  TILL  HE  IS  PREE  IN  THE  MOST 
FUNDAMENTAL  ACTIVITY  OF  LIFE,  THE  ACTIVITY  OF  GETTING 
A  LIVING. 

In  the  evolution  of  mankind  the  worker  has,  in  some 
parts  of  the  world,  secured : 

Freedom  to  investigate. 

Freedom  of  thought. 

Freedom  of  assemblage, 

Freedom  of  speech, 

Freedom  of  the  press, 

Freedom  of  suffrage — for  male  workers, 

Freedom  of  political  party  organization  and  association. 

This  indicates  the  stage  at  which  we  have  arrived  in  the 
development  of  freedom  for  the  working  class.  These  pre- 
liminary forms  of  freedom  are  the  means  with  which,  if  we 
have  pride  enough,  we  shall  secure  freedom  indeed — freedom 
in  getting  a  living,  freedom  from  capitalist  employers  who, 
with  soldiers  and  the  lash  of  starvation,  force  us  into  wage 
contracts,  freedom  from  the  blue-blood  social  parasites  who 


A  LESSON  IN  HISTORY.  337 

despise  our  common  blood  in  social  relations,  suck  our  blood 
in  industrial  relations,  and  waste  our  blood  in  war.* 

In  the  evolution  of  mankind  the  ancient  free  barbarian, 
taken  prisoner  in  war,  loudly  and  grandly  protesting,  be- 
came a  chattel  slave  without  any  kind  of  freedom ;  the  chattel 
slave  became  a  serf  without  industrial  freedom  or  any  other 
kind  in  reality  and  completeness ;  the  serf  became  a  wage- 
earner,  a  wage-slave,  without  industrial  freedom — that  is, 
without  the  fundamental  freedom,  freedom  in  getting  a  liv- 
ing. However,  in  very  recent  times  the  wage-earner  has 
come  into  the  possession  of  several  of  those  extremely  im- 
portant forms  of  freedom  with  which  he  can  defend  Jdmself 
as  soon  as  he  has  sufficient  self-respect  to  do  so. 

Thus  and  therefore  the  question  of  our  day  is  this : 
Are  the  w^orking  class  proud  and  keen  enough  to 

USE  THE  freedom  THEY  HAVE,  TO  SECURE  THE  FREEDOM  THEY 

NEED    MOST NAMELY,    FREEDOM    IN    INDUSTRY^    FREEDOM    IN 

GETTING  A  LIVING  IN  A  SOCIALIZED  SOCIETY,  A  SOCIETY  yflTB. 
EQUALITY  OF  OPPORTUNITY  FOR  ALL,  ALL  OF  US  WITH  OUR 
FEET  FIRMLY  PLANTED  ON  THE  COLLECTIVELY  OWNED  IN- 
dustrial foundations  of  society,  a  society  of  rational 
Mutualism,  with  Justice,  Plenty  and  Peace? 

Eeader,  if  you  are  with  us  in  our  peaceful  struggle  to  win 
the  world  for  the  workers,  start  a  fire — in  your  neighbor's 
mind  (if  he  has  one) — ^hand  him  a  torch,  a  torch  of  truth. 
Let  us  shake  hands  and  fight — the  enemy — with  light. 

With  the  truth  we  shall  halt  the  galloping  cavalry,  si- 
lence the  cannon,  "ground  arms,"  and  close  the  class  strug- 
gle— in  a  co-operative  commonwealth. 

With  a  dollar's  worth  of  literature  you  can  reach  a  hun- 
dred brains. 

It  is  your  move. 


*  For  a  powerful  argument  showing  the  intellectual  equality 
of  the  working  clasa  and  the  ruling  class  see  Professor  Lester  F. 
Ward's  AppUed  Sociology.  The  political  foolishness  of  the  working 
class  is  not  due  to  lack  of  brains,  but  to  lack  of  books — books  that 
tell  the  truth,  the  truth  that  clears  the  vision  and  rouses  the 
passion  for  fi'eedom  and  points  the  way. — Suggestions,  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER   TWELVE. 
More  Suggestions  and  What  to  Read. 

(1)  Invite  your  pastor  to  preach  against  war,  urge  him  to 
do  so,  and  render  him  any  assistance  you  can  in  the  way 
of  literature  on  war.  Help  get  out  an  audience  to  hear  the 
sermon.    Urge  others  to  do  likewise. 

(2)  Inform  your  own  children  and  other  children  con- 
cerning the  class  struggle  and  war,  and  urge  them  to  talk 
about  the  class  struggle  and  against  war,  at  school.  Teach 
them  the  cause  of  war.  See  also  Chapter  Eight,  Section 
20,  and  Index,  "Eecitations."     Rouse  the  children. 

(3)  Wherever  possible — in  colleges,  high  schools,  labor 
unions,  fraternal  organizations,  women's  clubs,  churches, 
Sunday  schools,  at  picnics,  and  so  forth — have  debates, 
declamations  and  essays  on  war.  Help  the  debaters,  writers 
and  speakers,  find  literature  on  war,  and,  if  possible,  get  the 
subject  presented  from  a  working-class  point  of  view,  showing 
especially  the  fundamental  cause  of  war  and  what  war  al- 
ways means  for  the  working  class.  (See  page  350,  last  two 
lines.) 

(4)  Have  as  many  persons  as  possible  call  at  your  pub- 
lic library  for  books  on  war,  and  suggest  books  on  war  to  be 
called  for.  Suggest  books  for  purchase  by  your  public  li- 
brary management.  If  the  books  you  urge  for  the  library 
are  not  purchased,  discuss  the  reason.  All  the  sociological 
works  quoted  in  Chapter  Eleven  should  be  in  your  public 
library. 

(5)  Get  articles  and  letters  on  war  into  your  local  news- 
papers and  labor  union  journals. 

(6)  On  the  30th  of  May,  the  4th  of  July  and  other 
"great"  days,  when  the  blood-steaming  praise  of  human 
l>utchery  is  poured  forth  by  the  noisy  "patriotic"  orators, 
pass  around  all  possible  literature  helpful  in  counteracting 
the  befouling  suggestions  commonly  thrust  into  the  minds 
of  the  people  at  such  times.     Chapter  Two  and  other  selec- 


SUGGESTIONS  AND  READINGS.  339 

tions  from  War — What  For?  making  an  inexpensive  sixteen- 
page  booklet,  may  be  had,  printed  separately,  for  such  purpose. 

It  is  possible  to  compel  an  entire  community  to  think  about 
the  vast  outrages  against  the  working  class.  As  long  as  the 
workers  have  the  privilege  of  spreading  the  printed  page,  one 
of  their  highest  pleasures  and  powers  will  be  found  in  forcing 
society  to  consider  the  cas0  of  the  worhing  class.  The  first 
thing  on  the  program  in  every  community  is  to  take  the  com- 
munity by  the  shoulders,  so  to  speak,  and  compel  it  to  con- 
sider the  mast  vital  subject  of  the  hour. 

(7)  A  Ten-Dollar  Cash  Prize  for  the  best  essay  or  debate, 
or  declamation  on  war  as  a  phase  of  the  class  struggle  by 
local  school-children  under  eighteen  years  of  age  would  create 
much  interest  in  the  vicious  slaughter  of  men  of  the  working 
class  and  in  the  new  working  class  politics,  if  the  proper 
literature  were  brought  to  the  young  people's  attention.  See 
Chapter  Eight,  Section  20,  Suggestion  (7). 

(S)  It  would  be  easy  to  make  here  a  pretentious  parade 
of  a  discouragingly  long  list  of  books  on  war.  But  War — 
What  For?  is  primarily  for  the  class  of  readers  who  are 
usually  too  busy  in  the  present  warlike  struggle  for  existence 
to  find  time  to  read  a  roomful  of  books  on  war.  However,  it 
is  hoped  that  the  present  volume  may  also  have  readers  with 
opportunity  to  make  extensive  studies  of  the  subject.  Such 
readers  will  find  abundant  bibliographies  already  prepared. 
Excellent  book  lists  for  the  student  of  war  are  as  follows: 

(a)  The  Political  Science  Quarterly,  December,  1900: 
over  200  titles,  at  the  close  of  an  elaborate  article  of  great 
worth,  "War  and  Economics  in  History  and  in  Theory,"  by 
Edward  "Van  Dyke  Eobinson. 

(b)  A  pamphlet.  International  Peace,  a  list  of  Books  with 
References  to  Periodicals:  600  titles  with  comment  on  con- 
tents, published  by  the  Brooklyn  Public  Library,  1908. 

(c)  A  well  selected  list  of  readings  in  The  Arena,  Decem- 
ber, 1894. 

Following  is  a  list  of  pamphlets,  magazine  articles  and 
books,  directly  or  indirectly  on  the  subject  of  social  conflict, 
of  which  war  is  a  phase.     The  list  is  short,  tho'  sufficient, 


340  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

it  is  hoped,  to  make  a  helpful  beginning,  a  short  reading 
course,  for  any  one  who  would  understand  the  subject  of  so- 
cial conflicts,  that  is,  would  understand,  not  the  science  of 
war,  but  the  cause,  the  meaning  and  results  of  class  struggles 
and  war. 

There  is  a  vast  amount  of  worthless,  or  worse  than  worth- 
less, literature  on  war:  worthless  because  of  the  writers' 
neglect  of  the  heart  of  the  problem,  namely,  the  indiLstiial 
structure  of  all  class-labor  forms  of  society,  with  their  wn- 
social  purpose  and  method  of  production,  resulting  in  the 
class  struggle. 

Whoever  would  understand  war  must  give  special  atten- 
tion: (1)  to  the  economic  interpretation  of  history;  (2)  to 
the  class  struggle,  considered  historically  and  currently;  and 
(3)  to  surplus  value,  produced  by  the  workers,  but  legally 
escaping  from  their  control  to  the  capitalist  class — as  a  re- 
sult of  the  institution  of  private  ownership  and  private  con- 
trol of  the  collectively  used  means  of  production.  The  fact, 
the  method,  the  purpose,  and  the  result  of  the  legal  confisca- 
tion of  that  part  of  the  world's  wealth  which  the  workers 
produce  and  are  not  permitted  to  enjoy — must  have  careful 
study.  In  the  light  of  such  studies,  national  and  inter- 
national policies,  politics  and  war  can  be  understood.  And 
as  war  is  thus  understood  we  can  make  rapid  headway  against 
war.  Pretty  little  speeches  and  essays  on  the  beauties  of 
peace,  with  "please-be-good"  perorations, — such  efforts,  how- 
ever carefuly  prepared,  tearfully  punctuated,  elegantly 
printed  and  prayerfully  delivered,  will  result  in — nothing. 
That  is  to  say,  occasional  literary  and  oratorical  snowballs 
ignorantly,  gracefully  and  grammatically  tossed  in  the  direc- 
tion of  hell  will  have  no  effect  on  the  general  temperature  of 
that  warlike  region.  (See  Index:  "Another  War,"  "The 
Hague  Peace  Conference,"  and  "The  Explanation.") 

A  Reading  Course. 

In  the  following  list  of  readings  those  indicated  by  paren- 
thesis thus  0  would  serve  as  a  shorter  course. 

(1)     Kautsky:    The  Capitalist  Class;  The  Working  Class;  The 


SUGGESTIONS  AND  READINGS.  341 

Class  Struggle;  Ethics  and  the  Materialistic  Conception  of  History; 
and  The  Road  to  Power,  Chapters  8  and  9. 

(2)  Simons:  The  Man  Under  the  Machine,  and  Class  Struggles 
in  America. 

(3)  Marx:  Wage-Labor  and  Capital;  Marx  and  Engels:  The 
Communist  Manifesto. 

(4)  Massart  and  Vandervelde:  Parasitism — Social  and  Or- 
ganic. 

(5)  Myers:  History  of  Great  American  Fortunes,  entire  work 
is  an  account  of  social  parasitism  in  America;  special  references: 
Vol.  II.,  pp.  127-38,  291-301;  Chapters  11  and  12;  Vol.  III.,  pp. 
160-176. 

(6)  Veblen:    The  Theory  of  the  Leisure  Class. 

(7)  Ross:  Social  Control;  The  Foundations  of  Sociology,  pp. 
219-23,  272-76;  Social  Psychology,  Chapters  on  Suggestibility,  The 
Crowd,  and  Mob  Mind. 

(8)  L.  F.  Ward:  Dynamic  Sociology,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  565-597; 
Psychic  Factors  in  Civilization,  Chapters  33  and  38;  Applied  So- 
ciology, pp.  224-295,  300-302,  307-313,  319-326;  Pure  Sociology, 
pp.  266-72;  "Social  Classes  in  the  Light  of  Modern  Sociological  The- 
ory," American  Journal  of  Sociology,  March,  1908;  Education  and 
Progress,  Address  delivered  before  the  "Plebs"  League,  Oxford,  Eng- 
land, August  2,  1909. 

9     W.  G.  Sumner:   Folkways,  Chapter  6. 

(10)  Morgan:  Ancient  Society,  pp.  V.-VIII.;  Pt.  I.  Chs.  1-3; 
and  all  of  Pt.  IV. 

(11)  J.  O.  Ward:  Ancient  Lowly,  Chapter — "Spartacus." 

12  Shoaf:    The  Story  of  the  Mollie  McGuires. 

13  Hanford:  The  Labor  War  in  Colorado. 

14     :   "Secret  Army  Guards  New  York  Against  a  Traffic 

Strike,"  New  York  Herald,  Mag.  Section,  March  20,  1910. 

(15)  Debs:    Class  Conflict  in  Colorado. 

( 16 )  Wright,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Labor :  A  Government 
Report  on  the  Great  Strike  in  Colorado. 

17     Darrow:   Speech   to  the  Jury  in  the  Haytvood  Case. 
(18)     Untermann:  The  Dick  Militia  Law  (U.  S.,  1903). 

19  Commons:  "Is  Class  Conflict  in  America  Growing  and  Is  It 
Inevitable?"  *  *  *  Carver:  "The  Basis  of  Social  Conflict";  *  *  - 
Keasby:  "Competition."  American  Journal  of  Sociology,  March,  190h. 
See  also  Papers  and  Proceedings  of  the  American  Sociological  So 
ciety,  Vol.  II.,  Special  Topic:   "Social  Conflicts." 

20  Small:    General  Sociology,  Chapters  26  and  27. 

(21)  Shaler:  "The  Natural  History  of  War,"  International 
Quarterly,  Sept.,  1903;  also  The  Neighbor. 

22     Ridpath'.    "Plutocracy   and   War,"   Arena,   Jan.,    1898. 
(23)     Jordan:    "The   Biology   of   War,"   an    Address,   Chicago, 


342  WAR— WHAT  FORf 

1909,  reported  in  Unity,  June  10,  1909;  Imperial  Democracy,  Chap- 
ters 1,  2,  3,  and  7;  The  Human  Harvest;  The  Blood  of  the  Nation. 
24     Chatterton-Hill:    Heredity  and  Selection  in  Sociology,   pp. 
316-24.     Thompson:   Heredity,  pp.  532-34. 

(25)  Jefferson:  "The  Peace-at-any-Price  Men,"  The  Inde- 
pendent, Feb.  4,  1909;  "The  Delusions  of  the  Militarist,"  Atlantic 
Monthly,  March,  1909. 

(26)  Charles  Edward  Russell:    Why  I  Am  a  Socialist. 

27  Tolstoi:  Bethink  Yourselves;  Patriotism  and  Christianity, 
and  Thou  Shalt  Not  Kill. 

(28)  Robinson:  "War  and  Economics  in  History  and  in 
Theory,"  Political  Science  Quarterly,  Dec,  1900. 

(29)  Ghent:    Mass  and  Class. 

(30)  London:  The  War  of  the  Classes;  Revolution,  Chapter, 
"The  Yellow  Peril";  also,  "Revolution,"  Contemporary  Review,  Jan., 
1908. 

(31)  W.  T.  Mills:   The  Struggle  for  Existence,  Chapters  4-23. 

(32)  Hillquit:  Socialism  in  Theory  and  Practice,  pp.  36-65, 
153-167,  296-302. 

(33)  Spargo:  Socialism,  Chapters  4,  5,  6,  and  Common  Sense 
of  Socialism,  Chapters  2-7. 

(34)  Ferri:  Socialism  and  Modern  Science,  Chapter  7. 

35  Seligman:    The  Economic   Interpretation   of   History. 

36  Boudin:  The  Theoretical  System  of  Karl  Marx,  Chapters 
1-5,  8-10. 

37  Patten:  "The  Economic  Causes  of  Moral  Progress,"  Annals 
of  Amer.  Soc.  Pol.  and  Soc.  Set.,  Sept.,  1892. 

(38)  Engels:  The  Origin  of  the  Family,  Property  and  the 
State,  special  attention  to  Chapters  8,  9;  and  Socialism — Utopian 
and  Scientific. 

(39)  Hobson:  The  Evolution  of  Modern  Capitalism;  Im- 
perialism, special  attention  to  first  six  chapters;  The  Psychology  of 
Jingoism;  The  War  in  South  Africa,  Part  II.;  and  John  Ruskin — 
Social  Reformer,  Chapters  3-8  inclusive,  and  Appendix  1. 

40  Ferrero:    Militarism. 

41  Liebknecht:    Militarismus  und   Anti-Militarismus. 

42  Biichner:  Industrial  Evolution  (Wickett's  translation). 
Chapters  4-5. 

(43)  Robinson  and  Beard:  The  Development  of  Modern 
Europe,  Vol.  II.,  Chapters   18,  30-31. 

(44)  Weale:  The  Coming  Struggle  in  Asia,  special  attention 
to  Parts  II.  and  III. 

45     :  "Peace  on  Earth,"  Public  Opinion,  Dec.  4,  1908,  p.  635. 

46  Schierbrand:  America,  Asia  and  the  Paeifie. 

47  Harrison:  National  and  Social  Problems,  Part  I.,  Chapters 
1,  8-11. 


SV0GE8TI0NS  AND  READINGS.  343 

(48)     Strong:  Expansion,  Chapters  2,  3,  4. 

49  Bolce:    The  New  Internationalism,  Chapters   1-6  inclusive, 

and  15. 

50  Fisk:    International   Commercial   Policies,   Chapters    13-16. 

51  Reinsch:    World  Politics. 

52  Asakawa:   The  Russo-Japanese  Conflict. 

53  Kennan:    "The  Military  and  Political  Memoirs  of  General 
Kuropatkin,"  McClure's  Magazine,  Sept.  1908. 

54  Smith:    The  Spirit  of  American   Government,   Chapters  4, 
11,  12. 

55  McCabe  and  Darien:  Can  We  Disarm? 

56  Carver:  Sociology  and  Social  Progress,  pp.  132-73. 

57  Jaures:    "Socialism   and  International  Arbitration,"  North 
American  Review,  Aug.   1908. 

58  Broda:    "The  Federation  of  the  World,"  The  International, 
July,  1908. 

(59)     Herv6:  "Anti-Militarism,"  The  International,  July,  1908; 
Anti- Patriotism ;  My  Country — Right  or  Wrong. 

60  Edmondson:   John  Bull's  Army  from   Within. 

61  Mead:   Patriotism  and  the  New  Internationalism. 

62  Kampffmeyer:    Changes  in   the   Theory  and  Tactics  of   the 
(German)   Social  Democracy    (Gay lord's  Translation),  Chapter  3. 

(63)  Sombart:    Socialism    and   the    Socialist    Movement     (Ep- 
stein's Translation),  Sixth  Enlarged  Edition,  pp.   175-223. 

(64)  Stoddard:   The  Neto  Socialism,  Chapters  14,  15. 

(65)  Campbell:  Christianity  and  the  Social  Order,  pp.  176-230. 

66  Warner:    The  Ethics   of  Force. 

67  Wallace:    The  Wonderful  Century,  Chapters    19,  20. 

68  ( Anonymous : )    Arheiter  in  Council. 
(69)      Walsh:   The  Moral  Damage  of  War. 
70     McLaren:   Put   Up  Thy  Sword. 

(71)      Bloch:    The  Future  of  War. 

72  Molinari:  The  Society  of  Tomorrow. 

73  Brooks :  The  Social  Unrest,  Chapter  6. 

(74)  Kim:   Mind  and  Hand,  Chapters  2,  17,  21,  22,  24. 

(75)  Seidel:    Industrial  Instruction. 

(76)  Eastman:  Work- Accidents  and  the  Law;  Oliver:  Danger- 
ous Trades. 

77  Addams:   The  Newer  Ideals  of  Peace. 

78  Anitchkow:    War  and  Labor. 

79  Cooley:   Human  Nature  and  the  Social  Order,  Chapters  1. 
3,  4,  7,  12. 

80  Lloyd:  Man  the  Social  Creator,  Chapters  1,  6,  11. 

81  Kropotkin:    Mutual  Aid. 

82  Bellamy:  Equality,  Chapters  22-27  and  first  half  of  33. 

83  Henry  George:   Progress  and  Poverty,  Book  10,  Chapter  3. 


344  WAR— WHAT  FOR? 

84  Amos:  Political  and  Legal  Remedies  for  War,  Chapters 
1,  2.  i 

85  Charles  Sumner:   Addresses  on  War. 

86  Fiske :  The  Destiny  of  Man. 

87  Kelly:    Government  and  Human  Evolution,  Vol,  II.  < 

(88)  Barry:  Siege  of  Port  Arthur — A  Monster  Heroism. 

(89)  Sakurai:    Human  Bullets. 

(90)  Von  Suttner:    Lay  Doicn  Your  Arms. 

(91)  Andreief:  The  Red  Laugh. 

(92)  Zola:   The  Downfall. 

(93)  Wells:    The  War  in  the  Air. 
94     Channing:  Lectures  on  War. 

(95)  Hugo:  Les  Misirables — the  Battle  of  Waterloo;  also 
William  Shakespeare,  Anderson's  translation,  pp.  294-312,  341-48, 
384-95. 

96     Sienkiewicz:    With  Fire  and  Sword. 

(97)  Crosby:  Captain  Jinks — Hero,  and  Swords  and  Plough- 
shares. 

98  Mr.  Dooley:  In  Peace  and  War. 

99  Kipling:   Barrack-Room  Ballads — "Tommy." 

100  Mrs.  Browning:   Mother  and  Poet. 

The  various  ''peace  societies"  have  published  consider- 
able literature  on  war  and  peace — in  most  eases  with  good 
intentions,  no  doubt.  However,  there  could  be  no  peace  be- 
tween a  chattel  slave  and  a  chattel  slave's  master;  nor  can 
there  be  peace  between  a  wage-slave  and  a  wage-slave's  em- 
ployer— if  the  wage-slave  be  awake;  nor  between  the  wage- 
slave  class  and  the  capitalist  class.  Until  "peace  societies" 
cry  out  against  capitalism, — the  heart  of  which  is  the  wage- 
system,— until  then  their  literature  will  be  discouragingly 
ineffective. 

Eeread  first  page  of  Chapter  Npie,  paragraph  beginning 
"The  cash  cost  of  militarism." 

The  one  war  sublime  is:  Light  against  Darkness. 

The  printing  press  is  the  machine-gun  for  the  slaves 
against  slavery. 

It  is  a  high  privilege  to  make  a  human  brain  ferment — 
with  facts. 

THE   END. 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Abuse  of  Soldiers. .  .191-199,  219-223 

Advertisements  for  Soldiers 108 

199-201,  293 
Aggression  and  Robbery,  Social . .  . 

273-337 

Airships,    Dirigible 90 

"All  War,  Civil  War" 264 

"American  Brigadier,  The,"  Church 

Militarism 230  et  seq. 

American  Civil  War , . .  .  .  139 

American  Civil  War,  Cash  Cost  of 

55-58 
American     Revolutionists,     Resist- 
ance by  Force 292 

American  Revolutionary  War,  Be- 
trayal of  Working-Class  Sol- 
diers in 117-118 

Anarchists,   Capitalists  as.  ..  .295-296 

303 
Andreief,     Leonid,    —    "The    Red 

Laugh" 18-19,  83 

Another  War 30-43,   97,   154-158 

207  ;    217  ;    265  ;    284  ;    287  ;    289- 
290  ;   312-316  ;   333-334 
Antagonism      in      Present      Social 

Structure    273-337 

Antagonism  —  Mutualism  —  in  the 

Social  Structure 281  et  seq. 

Antagonism — Second  Possible  Plan 

of  Social  Organization 282 

Antagonism,  Social,  Basis  of 282 

Anti-patriotism  of  George  Wash- 
ington     217-218 

Arbitration 202-206,   308-309 

Arbitration,  "Nothing  to  Arbi- 
trate"     166-167 

Aristocrats,  Roman,  Avoiding  In- 
fantry        22 

Armed  Guard,   Rapidly  Increasing, 

Necessity  of.   New   Danger 42 

164-174 
"Arm  Everybody  or  Nobody" ....  175 
Arms,    Defective,    Provided    Union 

Soldiers   139 

Arms,    Modern,    Improved 77-97 

Arms,  Rapid  Improvement  of 26 

Arms,  Right  to  Bear 175 

Army,  Composed  of  Working-Class, 

General  Army   Staff  Quoted ....   10 
"Army,  the  Poor  Man's  University," 

176 

Bankruptcy    64-73 

Barry,  Richard 82-83,  88 

Battles  in  Industry  Compared  With 

Battle    in    War 164 

Bayonet,  a  Stinger 12 

Births  Prevented  by  Life  in  Mili- 
tary   Service 48 

Block,  J.  .  .49,  56,  75,  80,  85,  89,  109 
Blood  Cost  of  War.  in  General,  47- 
54;    in   Manchuria 145 


PAGB 

Blood  Lust,  Fostering  of,  In  Chil- 
dren   213  et  seq. 

Boer  War 32,  67,  93,  181  et  seq. 

Bond  Leech,  International. ..  .146-148 

"Boys  in  Blue,"  The 118  et  seq. 

"Boy  Scout"  Movement,  The.. 228-233 

British  Government,  Its  Betrayal 
of  Soldiers  in  Napoleonic  Wars 
and  in  the  Boer  War 110-118 

Brutality  of  Soldiers 180  et  seq. 

Bryan,   W.  J 21 

In  Cuban  War 178-179 

Sons  of 157 

Bullets,    Dumdum 204-205 

Business  and  Government  in  Im- 
pending War 156-157 

"Business  Is  Business" 244-272 

Caesar's  Victories 105 

Capitalism 30-46,   283   et  seq. 

Capitalism,  Destruction  of.  .291  et  seq. 
Capitalism,   Peace   Impossible    Un- 
der     286-289 

"Capital  Produces  Nothing"  .  .284-285 
Canned   Beef  for  Soldiers.  .. .137-144 

Cannibals,    "Civilized" 144-148 

Carlyle,    Thomas,    on    the    "Brave 

Boys"    189-190 

Carnegie,  Andrew 289 

Carnegie  Steel  Company,  Patriot- 
ism of 289 

Cause  of  War.  .Chap.  Three,  Six,  Ten, 

Eleven 
Challenge  to  Hague  Peace  Society, 

206  et  seq. 
Chattel  Slave,  Protection  of .  .  .  .97-99 

Chattel  Slavery 282  et  seq. 

Children 207-243,  338-339 

Chinese  Export  Trade 156-157 

Christ 21,    52,    144   et  seq.,   184 

226-278,   244.    259-260 

Characterization    of 260-261 

Christian  Governments  in  the  R61e 

of  Procurers 220-223 

"Christianized"    War   52 

Church,   The,   and   War 244-272 

Defense  of  Chattel  Slavery,  Serf- 
dom and  Capitalism.  .256  et  seq. 
Training    Children    for    Strikes 

and  War 228-232 

"Civil  War,   All  War  Is" 264 

Civil   War,    American 54-58, 

100-101,  118-124 

Civil  War — in  Industry 37-46 

168-174 

Origin  and  Perpetuation  of.  .318-37 

See  also  Chapter  Ten 

Classes — Industrial 274  et  seq. 

Classes — Industrial,  Property  as 
Basis    of.    Professors    Bluntschll 

and    Fairbanks 275-276 

Classes,  Social — What  Creates.  . .  .286 
See  Civil  War  In  Industry. 


ue 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Dlass  Interests — Clash  of 29-46 

273-337 
Dlass    War,    Raging    Around    Un- 
socialized    Industrial   Property .  .167 
et  seq.   See  Civil  War  in  Industry. 

Clergy   and  War,   The 228-234 

244-272 

Slews,  Henry 121-124,   285 

3ommander-in-Chief,  Insult  From.    10 

■Come  On!   or  Go  Ahead!" 107 

Commerce    Develops    into    Militar- 
ism  29-46,    137-158 

Competition   and   War 40 

Laborers  Relieved  of,  by  War..  188 
Conciliation,    See   Arbitration. 
Conscription,  in  Caesar's  Time....    22 

77,  152 

For   Napoleon's   Armies 104-05 

Conservatives,    Liberals 173-174 

Constabulary,   The   State 148-153 

170-175 
Corruption  of  Soldier  Youths,  Taft, 
Dickinson,      Jordan,      Col.      Van 
Rensselear,  General  Sherman  and 

others    219-227 

Cossack,   The  American,   See  Con- 
stabulary. 
Cost  of   War,  in   Blood   100  years 

following  1789,  total 50 

Cost  in  Cash,  of  War 54  et  seq. 

In    Manchuria 145 

Cost  of  War  in  Cash 54-76 

Credit   Mobilier 124-137 

Crosby,    Ernest 237 

"Cross,   Cannon,   and   Cash   Regis- 
ter"      244-272 

Cruelty  of  Soldiers 180  et  seq. 

Cuban  War 32,   94,    137-144 

Cyclone  of  Dynamite,  etc.,  on  Bat- 
tlefield     89-90 

Debts,  War 47,  54-76 

Decadence,  Physical 45-54,  92-106 

Declamations  for  Children.. 237  et  seq. 

Declaration  of  Independence, 
American    302 

Democracy,   Increasing.  .  .70,    167-168 
273-316,    335-337 

Deserters,  System  for  Catching.  .7,  77 

153,   193,  199 

Despotism,    Foundation,    and    His- 
torical  Forms,   of 282  et  seq. 

Also  Chapter  Eleven. 

"Dick"  Militia   Law,   The 161 

170  et  seq. 

Disappointment  of  Young  Soldiers, 

194  et  seq. 

Disarmament    206  et  seq. 

Disease  in  War.  .  .48,  92-97,   220-223 

"Dreadnoughts"    60-65 

Dumdum    Bullets 204-205 

Economic     Determinism — Applica- 
tions and  Illustrations  of.  Chapters 
Six,  Nine,  Ten,  Eleven 

Education  and  Militarism 24-25 

59-76 

$8,000,000,000    69-74 

Blkins    Law 295-296 

Employer  Class,  Interest  of,  Josiah 

Strong     100 

Enlistment    77-SG 

97,  102-103,  107-109 


PAGE 

Expansion   of  Capitalism 34 

Exemptions,     Substitutes 160-161 

228-230 

"Explain  !"    293-294 

Explosives,    Modern 77-92 

Father  and  the  Boys 159  et  seq. 

Ferrero,  G.,   on  Roosevelt  Type  of 

Greatness   180,  187 

On  War  as  a  Promoter  of  Civ- 
ilization     185 

"Fighting    Parsons" 244-273 

Firing   Line,   the   Industrial 164 

Fiske,  John,  on  Evolution  of  Social 

Man    183 

Fittest,  Survival  of,  in  War.... 47-54 

188-91 

Force,    Resistance    By 291-293 

"Foreigners"     257-264 

Foundation  of  Democracy.  .281  et  seq. 
Foundations    of    Society,    Privately 

Owned    39  ;   See  Chapter  Ten 

Foreign  Markets 30-46 

155-157,  254-255,  333-334 

Four  Great  Events 306  et  seq. 

Franchise,    Right   of,    in   America, 

117-118 

Franco-Prussian   War 26,   93 

160-163,   210 
Freedom,    Evolution    of 334-337 

Foundation   of 273-316 

"Freeing    Cuba" 137-144 

French  Wars  of  the  Revolution ...    49 
Functions,    Social  —   Organization 

Necessary    for 281 

Future  Wars,    See  "Another  War." 

Garrison,  William  Lloyd,  on  Pa- 
triotism     216 

"Governments   Destroy   Nations" .  .    70 
Government's,  the  Federal,  Sneer  at 
the     Poverty    of     the     Working 

Class     108-109 

Government,  Use  of,  in  Defense  of 
Interests,  by  Washington  and 
Others,  217-219  ;  Discussion  and 
Suggestion  of.  Frequent. 

Habit,  Force  of  in  Working  Class, 

326  et  seq. 

Hague  Peace  Conference 201-205 

214,   289-290 
Hale,     Edward     Everett,     Rebukes 

Teachers  of  Blood  Lust 214 

Harvard    University,    "Fashionable 

Cavalry"     23 

Hearst    (Newspapers) 32 

Hearst,   Mr.,  Patriotic 178 

Hell    77-106 

Heroes    180-184 

History    of    Great   American    For- 
tunes, Gustavus  Myers. ..  .137,  139 
Humanizing    War 203-204 

Illinois  Central  Railway  Company, 

Lands  Secured  by 135-136 

Impending  War,    See   "Another  War." 

Income-Tax  and   Patriotism 107 

Industrial  Function — Society  Al- 
ways   Organized   Primarily   with 

Reference   to 281    et   seq. 

Industrial  Despotism,  Historic 
Forms  and  Foundation  of .  282  et  seq. 


INDEX. 


347 


Ingersoll,  R.  6 180.    182 

225,    235,    237-238-241 
Insanity  Among  Soldiers.. 6-7,  88,  195 
Institutions,     Origin    of.     Illustra- 
tions     317-337 

International    Citizens 262-264 

Japanese-Russian  War 99,  144 

Jingoism,  The  Beginning  of.. 209-210 
Jordan,  President  D.  S..  104-105,  198 

ICidnapping  and  Militarism 227 

Labor    Market,    See    Labor-power. 
Labor-power,    Buying    and    Selling 
f  29-47 

97-99,'  106,'  '274-27'5','333-337 

Lad's   Brigade,    The 230   et    seq. 

"Land-Grant"     Railroads,     Land 

Gifts,   etc 124,   137 

Law  and  Order 6,  321-322 

Liberals,    Conservatives 173-174 

Limitation    of   Armaments,    69-70 ; 

See  Hague  Peace  Society,  The. 
Lincoln,    President,    and    the    Wall 

Street    Patriots 118-137 

Lockouts,     Strikes,     Statistics     of, 

168-169 
"Love  of  Country" 217-219 

"Man  on  Horseback,  The".. 148  et  seq. 

Marines 108,  154-158,  221-222 

Markets,  See  Foreign  Markets,  and 

Labor-power. 
Medical     Service,     U.     S.    Govern- 
ment's Criminal  Neglect  of.  Ut- 
terly Inadequate.  . . .94-95,  143-144 
Meditations  of  a  Workingman.  . .  .153 

et  seq. 

Mexican  War 148 

"Might  Makes  Right".. 21-28,  185-190 

Militarism     29-106 

In  Public  Schools,  Chapter  Eight. 

Militarism  and   Education 59-76 

Militarism  and  Kidnapping 227 

Militarism  in   Churches 228-233 

Military   Tactics,    Applied   in  Poli- 
tics     278-280 

Militia     and     Army — Rich     Men's 

Sons   in 160,    176-177 

Militiamen   and    Soldiers 25,    40 

45,   46,    148,   151-152 
Millionaires  in  Cuban  War ..  .176-178 

Ministers  and  War 6,   20 

22,  24,  27,  28,  41,  44,  78,  244-272 
Modern       Machinery,       Knowledge, 
Methods,    Specially    Import    Re- 
sult       42 

Moral  Decline  of  Youth  in  Army, 

180-187,   219-227 

Morocco -affair.    The 309 

Moskow    Campaign 104-105 

Mother — and   the   Boys   and   Girls, 

207-243 
Mothers,    Special    Suggestions    for, 

236  et  seq. 
Murdering  Machinery,  Modern.  .77-92 
Mutualism — Antagonism  in  the  So- 
cial Structure 281  et  seq. 

"My    Country    is    the    World,    My 
Countryman  All  Mankind" 216 

Napoleon    104-105 

110-115,  124,  200,  208-209,  237 


PAGE 

Naturalness    of    Social    Parasites' 
Behavior   286  et  seq. 

Naval   Life,   Unnaturalness  of  and 
Disastrous    Moral   Results.  .221-222 

Navy 58-59,    69,    108,    191 

Next  War,  The — How  to  Avoid  Be- 
ing Wounded  in 97 

Non-Combatants,     Deatruction     of, 
in  Time  of  War 48-50 

Non-Resistance 291    et   seq. 

Northern  Pacific  Railway  Company, 
Land    Gifts   to 134-136 

Norwegian-Swedish  War,  See  "Four 
Great   Events." 

"No  Sentiment  in  Business".  .244-272 

Notice,    Special,    to    Hague    Peace 
Society 206  et  seq. 

"Obey  or  Starve".  .  .257-258,  334-337 

"Off  for  the  Front" 30 

"Old   Glory,"   Abuse   of 150 

Old   Veteran    and    Young   Cossack, 

148   et  seq. 
One  Christian  Century  of  War.  .52-53 

Opportunity,    Equal    Basis  of 281 

"Our  Country!" 218-219,   225-226 

Overproduction 37-42,    333-335 

Panic   of  1907 — Regular   Soldiers' 
Pay   Advanced   in    by    Congress, 

152-153 
Parades,  Military,  Purpose  and  Re- 
sults     199   et  seq. 

Parasites "7.  1 J 

137,    190-191,   273-337 

Parents,   Suggestions  to 207-243 

Patriotism    227,  196-197 

Patriotism  a  Matter  of  Cash.     W. 

H.  Taft  and  T.  Roosevelt.  .196-197 
Patriotism,     Capitalist,     Specimens 

of    107-158 

Patriotism,    Fallacy   of    False,   Ex- 
ploded by   James  Mackaye 217 

Patriotism,  False,  Taught  to  Chil- 
dren    208  et  seq. 

"Patriotism  is  Killing  Spaniards," 

252-253 
Patriotism     of     Buyers     of     War 

Bonds    118-124 

Patriotism — of  George  Washington, 

217-21S 
Patriotism — Lowell,  J.  R.,  on.... 217 
Patriotism,   Petty,    Interferes  With 

Social    Evolution    of    Child 213 

215  et  seq. 
Patriotism,  Professor  Paulsen  on.. 180 

Patriotism,  R.  G.  Ingersoll  on 180 

Patriotism.   R.   W.   Emerson  on...  217 

Patriots,   Some   Petty 262-264 

Peaceful     Slaughter — in    Industry, 

97-106 
Peace    Impossible  Without    Social- 
izing Unity  of  Interest.  .257  et  seq. 

282  et  seq. 

Peace  on  the  Program 262-263 

Peace    Societies 201-20o 

Peace,  Talk  of,  but  Preparation  for 

War    154    et   esq. 

Peace,      The     Hague     Conference, 

201-205 

Penitentiary  for  the  Rich 295-296 

Pensions     55-59 

Industrial  Pensions  and  Military     _ 
Service    Pensions 163-16a 


348 


INDEX. 


PAGE 

Perverted  Sex-Appetite  in  Life  at 
Sea    221-222 

Philippines,  A  Soldier's  Letter 
from    the 198 

Philippine  War 99-101 

Pledge  to  Working  Class 11 

Poetry   that  Poisons 213,   214 

Poisoned  Arms,  A  Revolution  Pro- 
duced   by 203-204 

Political  Logic,  Elementary,   167  et  seq. 

Political  Parties — Do  Not  Create 
Classes         286 

Political  Party,  Definition  of 304 

Political    Resistance 293    et   seq. 

Politics,    Elementary.    Chap.    Ten. 

Politics,  Military  Tactics  Applied 
in    278-280 

Poverty  of  Soldiers  Following  War, 

110-117,   137-144 

Power,   the  Road  to 167-168 

Powers    of    Government,    Necessity 

of  Capturing 25.  41-42 

75-76,  105-106,   159-206.  273-316 

Preachers  on  the  Firing  Line.  228-230 

"Preaching  Heaven,  Practising 
Hell"     230 

Preparation    for   War 34.    54-76 

Talk  of   Peace   and   Preparation 
for  War 154-155 

Press,    The 24.    32 

177-178.    336-337,    338-344 

Prevention  of  War.  .  .24-25.    105-106, 

158,     160,     174-176,    201-206,     235- 

243  ;    Chapters    Nine,    Ten ;    "Four 

Great   Events,"  pp.   306  et  seq. 

Prize-Fighter     Statesmanship.  .  .58-76 

Procurers,  Christian  Governments 
as     220-223 

Progress       Promoted       by       War, 

184  et  seq. 

Property  Basis  of  Social  Classes — 
Professors  Bluntschli  and  Fair- 
banks      275-276 

Property  Rights,   "Sacred" 39 

322-325 

Property,    Socialized 167-168 

Prostitutes  Furnished  by  Christian 
Governments   to   Their   Soldiers, 

219-223 

Quarters,  Soldiers' 192  et  seq. 

Race    Suicide 207-209 

Rag-Money    for    "Boys    in    Blue," 

119-120 
Rations — For  Soldiers ....  191  et  seq. 

•'Real  War,  The,"   Ruskin,  J 227 

Rebellion    69-70 

See  Washington. 
Recitations.  Declamations,  Selec- 
tions from  Chapters  One,  Two, 
Four,  Five,  Six,  Eight,  Nine, 
Ten.  See  Suggestions  Chapter 
Twelve. 

Recruiting 42,   43 

Recruiting — Devices    108 

Red   Cross   Society 88 

"Remembering     the     Maine,"     See 

"Freeing  Cuba." 
Resistance  by  all  Forms  of  Power. 

292-294 

Revolution    300-303 

Revolutionary  War,  American....   57 


PAGE 

Revolutionists,     American.  . .  .217-218 

292,  302-303 
Revolution  of  Opinion.  .  .152-153.  187 

Revolution,   Prepare  For 167-168 

Revolution,    Produced   by   Poisoned 

Arms    203-204 

Rifle     Practice     Clubs     in     Public 

Schools    233   et  seq. 

Rifle    Ranges    in    Public    Schools, 

210  et  seq. 

"Righteous    War" Chapter    Nine 

Risks    in   War — At  the   Front   and 

in  Wall  Street.     See  "Clews." 

See  also    163-164 

Road  to  Power,  The 167-168 

Robbery  Institutional 282  et  seq. 

Romans.    Decadence  of 105 

Roosevelt.  T 21,  47,  93,  102,   141- 

143,  157,  179-180,  197,  233,  251-253 

Rough   Riders.   The 140 

Royal      Timber      Company,      The, 

144  et  seq. 

Russian- Japanese    War 18-19 

68-69,  86-88,  101,  144  et  seq. 

School  Children,   Deception  of . .  .  .    56 
Schools,  Public,  Abuse  of.  by  Mili- 
tarists     Chapter   Eight 

Schools,    Use    of.    to    Betray    and 

Poison  Children 213  et  seq. 

Sedan,  Battle  of 84.   85,   163 

Senate,  U.  S.,  Dignity  and  Nobility 

of     124-137 

"Sentiment    in    Business".  ..  .244-272 

Seven    Days'    Battle 124    et    seq. 

Seventh    Regiment    (N.    Y.),    The, 

176-177 
"Silence!"  The  Command  of   Des- 
potism     113-114,    148 

Silent  Destroyer,   Disease,  The.. 92-97 

Slavery  as  a  Revolution 318 

Slavery.  Serfdom,  Capitalism,  Pur- 
pose   of 38 

Socialist  Party  and  War 68 

270-272,  Chapter  Ten.  336-337 
Social  Organization  —  Mutualism, 
Antagonism,  Two  Possible  Social 

Forms    281  et  seq. 

South- African  War 103 

Spanish- American  War... 93.  176-177 

Special  Warning,    A 154   et  seq. 

Standing  Army.  A..  109-110.   170-176 
Statesmen.   Politicians,   in  War...    30 

Temptations  of 44 

Strikes    17 

Militiaman's  Cheap  R61e  in.. 45-46 

1894    165-166 

At     Iron    Mines    in    Minnesota. 

1907    166   et  sea. 

"Great  Coal  Strike".  .  .  .148  et  seq. 
Strikes,    Lockouts,    Statistics   of. 

168-169 
Schoolboys  Prepared  for  Strikes, 

233-235 

Substitutes,     Exemptions 160-161 

Suggestions    25,   54.   56,   58.   68 

74-76,    97,    105-106.    174-175,    184. 

210-214,     226     et     seq..     293-294; 

Chapters    Eleven,    Twelve 

Suicide    6-7,    77,   194   et   seq. 

Surgery   Applied   to   Society.  .298-299 

Surplus    37-43 

Surplus    Products.    Embarrassingly 
large 254,  255 


INDEX. 


349 


PAGE 

Swedish-Norwegian  War,  See 
"Four  Great  Events"..  .306  et  seq. 

Taft.    W.   H 10,    48,    154-157,    191 

et    seq.,    195    et    seq.,    219,    295-296 
Teachers,    School,    Their   Power   to 
Blast  or   Develop  Social   Nature 

of   Child 209-216 

Teaching  Youths  How  to  Avoid 
Venereal  Disease  in  Associating 
With  Women  (U.  S.  Govern- 
ment and   British   Government), 

219-223 
Temptations     Frankly    Offered    by 

Federal   Government.  .  .  .192  et  seq. 
Territorial    Force    Act     (English), 

"Dick"     Law 173-174 

The  Hague  Peace  Society.  .202  et  seq. 
"The  War  is  the  Class  War".  .37-46, 

286 

"To    Arms!    To    Arms!" 13-17 

289-291 

"Topics    for    Discussion" 159-243 

Toys,    Military 216 

"Train  Everybody  or  Nobody".  .  .  .175 

"Trade   Follows   the   Flag" 36 

Trust   Laws 295-296 

Tsar    of    Russia,    and    The    Hague 

Peace    Conference 201-202 

Tyranny    Protected    by    the    Flag, 
Chapter    Six,    Seventh    Illustra- 
tion,  and   148-153,   164-165 

"Undesirable  Citizens,"  Soldiers 
as,  W.  H.  Taft.  195  et  seq.  ;  260-262 

Unemployed,   The 42,   152-153 

Union     Pacific     Railway     Charter, 

124-137 
Universal    Military   Service,   Chap- 
ter Seven   (3).    (11),    (12) 

Venereal  Diseases.  . . .48,  49,  219-223 
"Vision    of    the    Future,"    Inger- 

soll's    242 

"Vision  of  War,"  Ingersoll's.  .240-241 
Volunteers    77 

Wage-System,     See     Labor-power, 

Buying  and   Selling  of. 

Wall    Street   Patriots 118-124 

Walsh,  Dr.  Walter 147,  182,  199 

210,    222-223.    266   et   seq. 
"War    a    Collision    of    Interests," 

General  Von  der  Goltz 170 


PACK 

War    and    Industry,    Comparative 

Destruction  of  Life  in 77-92 

War,  and  the  Survival  of  the  Fit- 
test     188 

War   and    Women 207-243 

War  as  Hell,  Chap.  Five,  160,  289-291 
War   as    a    Relief    to    Competition 

Among    Laborers 188 

War  as  a  System  of  Exploitation, 

Ferrero    187 

War,   Comment  on 160 

War,   Definition  of 21 

Ward,  Lester  F.  .38,  183.  284,  292,  328 
War,   Explanation  of.   Motives  and 
Occasions  of.  Chaps.  Three,   Six, 

Ten,  Eleven 

"War    is    Hell" 159-160 

War  Necessary  to  Progress.  184  et  seq. 

War.     Origin    of 317-337 

Warning,    Special 14,    17 

154-158,  288-290,  311-316 
"War"  Statesmen,  Popularity  of .  .  44 
War — The  Class  Struggle.  .286   et 

seq. ;  See  Classes 
War,     The     Next,     See     "Another 

War." 
War,  What  is  Determined  By.  .21-28 

185-188 
War — What  to  Do  About  It.  .159-243 
273-316  ;   passim 
War,    Who    Want     Who    Declare, 

Who   Fight 29  et  seq. 

Washington,    Anti-Patriot.  .  .  .217-218 
Letter  to  John  Bannister  on  Pa- 
triotism     148 

Waterloo,    Battle   of 110-111 

"Welcome    Home  !" 107-158 

"Wintering"    in  the   Army 153 

Women   and   War 18,   26,   207-243 

Working    Class,     Self-Defense    of, 

1-344 
Wounded,    the    DifBculties    in    At- 
tending to  in  Modern  War....   94 

"Young  Men  Not  Only  Willing  but 
Anxious  to  Fight,"  Origin  of 
Saying    47 

Youth,  Conscription  of,  for  Napo- 
leon's Armies 104-105 

Zeppelin's,    Count,    Airship 90 

Zola,  Emile,   The  Downfall 26,   83 

211-212 


350  ANNOUNCEMENT 

Our  highest  activity   is  thinlcing.     Our  highest  privilege  Is 
persuading  or  compelling  others  to   think.     Discussion  is  de« 
struction    for   despotism.      The  Three  Great  Rights  are 
Freedom  of  Assemblage, 
Freedom  of  Speech, 
Freedom  of  the  Press. 

Why?  Because  with  these  three  rights  we  HOLD  the  rights 
we  HAVE  and  GET  other  rights  we  NEED.  All  tyrants 
dread  those  men  and  women  who  are  shrewd  enough  to  PRO° 
TECT  and  use  these  Three  Great  Rights. 

Tyrants  are  absolutely  unafraid  of  all  others.  Perhaps  of  these 
three  rights  the  freedom  of  the  press  is  the  greatest;  because,  for 
example,  with  from  ten  cents  to  a  dollar  you  can  reach  from  ten  to 
a  thousand  minds.  If  each  of  5,000  books  is  read  by  ten  persons, 
50,000  persons  are  reached;  and  if  these  50,000  discuss  the  themes 
of  the  book,  each  with  three  other  persons,  then  in  all  205,000  per- 
sons are  reached  with  the  5,000  books. 

The  printing  press  is  the  Gattling  gun  for  use  in  the  struggle 
against  any  and  all  wrongs.  As  a  means  of  self-defense  the  printed 
page  is  a  thousand  times  more  powerful  than  a  rifle  ball  fired  thru 
a  tyrant's  brain. 

Salvation   comes,   and   can   come,   only  thru  information. 

Books,  like  blood,  should  circulate. 

War — What  For?  was  written  to  help  in  the  agitation  against 
the  vast  red  crimes  that  curse  mankind.  The  author  has  been  in- 
formed from  several  sources  that  the  suppression  of  the  book  has 
been  seriously  discussed.  The  power  of  the  book  has  been  recog- 
nized. 

The  Chicago  Evening  Post:  "•  .  .  It  is,  in  fact,  exquisitely 
designed  to  capture  the  interest  and  win  the  belief  .  .  . ;  it  is  as 
well  calculated  to  impress  its  readers  as  Paine's  Rights  of  Man." 

The  Louisville,  Kentucky,  Herald  also  ranks  the  book  with 
Tom  Paine's  Rights  of  Man  with  respect  to  its  power  to  impress  its 
readers;  confesses  that  the  foundation  of  the  book  is  made  of  solid 
facts;   but  estimates  the  book  as  uncommonly  dangerous. 

The  Springfield,  Mass.,  Republican  speaks  of  the  book  in  a 
lengthy  review  as  containing  "much  startling  information  which 
ought  to  be  widely  disseminated;  .  .  .  .crowded  with  facts  and 
figures,  official  reports  and  other  authoritative  documents  being 
freely   quoted.    .   .   " 

Eugene  V.   Debs:     ".    .    .    An    immortal    achievement." 

St.  Louis  Labor:  "...  A  powerful  indictment  of  war.  .  .  a 
presentation  of  hard  facts.  The  author  digs  into  the  fundamental 
causes  of  war." 

Charles  Edward  Russell  (Editorial  in  Coming  Nation):  "The 
heaviest  blow  ever  dealt  against  the  insanity  of  militarism.  A  re- 
markable book.  No  one  can  escape  the  logic  of  its  massed  up 
facts.   .   .   ." 

The  Appeal  to  Reason:  "...  A  scathing  indictment  of 
war.  .   .   . 

War — What  For?  is  made  for  use  in  the  one  war  worth  while 
— the  war  of  light  against  darkness.  If  you  possess  the  book, 
kindly  show  it  to  your  neighbor.  That  will  be  a  service  in 
the  war  against  war. 

Information    concerning   WAR— WHAT  FOR?   will  be  sent 
to  any  person  whom  you  wish    to  interest  in  the  agitation  for 
the  war  against  war,   on   receipt  of  name  and  address. 
Address:  WAR  WHAT  FOR?    West  LaFayette.  Ohio.    Box  206  R.  K. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
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